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[Dragonflyveb]

Ever notice how one home repair leads to several more? Like you're getting a dishwasher replaced and the hoses are cracked and your kick plate isn't right?

yeah...so I noticed my water bill got really high the past couple months. I thought maybe it was catchup billing from watering this summer, so I just paid it. But this month, it was still up, so I called and got a tech out to check the meter. He checks out the water softener and tells me it's 19 years old and probably leaking, Okay, and by the way, he smells natural gas in the garage. Uh oh. So I call the gas company, get a guy out and sure enough, there's a gas leak. Now, I did not smell anything! He red flags my house, which means no heat for me.

I call several plumbers, of course, everyone is busy, everyone is short staffed, etc. Finally get a plumber at 5 pm. Bad leak, old pipes, need all new piping...

I spent the night in a closed room with 2 cats, 3 comforters, 3 heating pads and a space heater. I was comfy, but the rest of the house got down to 50! I had  lamps under my sinks and ran the water.

At least the plumber showed up this morning, plus a helper! So glad to see them, although this may take all day!

Moral of the story is if you live in the Midwest, be prepared! I bought a quartz space heater the last time I had a furnace fail (spider web in the line) for just in case, and I'm so glad I did. 

and I still need a water softener....

cheers from chilly Dragonfly!

[LindaSal]

Things do tend to all go at once, I've been through that and I do know what it's like.

I wish you all the best and you are so right about being prepared as you never know what's around the corner.   Good luck

[SilleeMee]

That's exactly why repair/service companies frequently have discount 'check-up' coupons for customers and then when those repair people come to your house they almost always find other problems which need fixing. That's how they make money.

[Justholdingon]

usually in my household, it's usually either house repairs that are needed all at once or a whole bunch of family's health scares  all at once. I'd rather have the house repairs, thank you very much! It always seems to work out that way one after another. 

[Dragonflyveb]

I am just grateful that I could get someone out and they are fixing it now and that my house didn't blow up or something horrible.

I never knew that gas pipes could corrode in the crawl space. I'm just happy that someone could smell the gas when I couldn't! 

dragonfly

[SilleeMee]

My house was built with a natural gas line for my furnace and hot water tank. But no one ever told me to buy a natural-gas-leak detector like you would with a fire/smoke alarm or a carbon monoxide detector. I don't think anyone ever gets told about that!  So I took it upon myself to buy a gas-leak detector and placed the thing next to my furnace and hot water tank b/c that's the only place where I have gas appliances. If you have a gas stove, a gas fireplace or gas dryer then i think it would be wise to have leak detectors near those places also.

[catter70]

Thank goodness the tech smelled the gas. And, please be careful using that space heater.

[Dragonflyveb]

Oh, I didn't know there was such a thing as a gas leak detector. Nobody told me either.

Wish I woulda had one so I could have fixed this in the summer!

[Dragonflyveb]

Yup, space heaters scare the bejeebers out of me. The one I have is quartz infrared, so there's no exposed heater elements.

[ScrapHappy]

Yep.  Been down the same road, and still on it.  The people who owned the house before us didn't do a lot of things the proper way.  Our neighbor next door said he wasn't very handy, and it shows.