We are having an adventure a day it seems! Today a big load (and I mean BIG) load of dirt was dumped on our driveway at 7:30a just as Gary was leaving with the kids to school. The gardeners are here to finish up the patio/garden work. Apparently they need a LOT of dirt to do the job!!
On Sunday, we started having our toilets back up. There are three in the main part of the house and when one backed up, the next toilet to flush also backed up. We called the landlord but of course, nothing happens on Sunday so he said he’d get a plumber to come out on Monday. In the mean time, we had planned to spend the day learning the trains and exploring Frankfurt. That’s what we did and had a great time – beautiful sunny weather. Actually, it has been in the 70s and sunny since we arrived – occasional rain shower in the afternoon. Very un-German weather according to Gary.
Anyway, Monday was spent with the plumbers here all day . The main guy speaks pretty well in English so he was keeping me updated. By the end of the day, we had four plumbers here – two “specialists” who they called in with special equipment. They had a camera on the end of a plumbing snake and a separate piece of equipment with a 10” screen (in color!) that showed what the camera was “seeing.” Sort of like endoscopy for sewers!
On Sunday, we started having our toilets back up. There are three in the main part of the house and when one backed up, the next toilet to flush also backed up. We called the landlord but of course, nothing happens on Sunday so he said he’d get a plumber to come out on Monday. In the mean time, we had planned to spend the day learning the trains and exploring Frankfurt. That’s what we did and had a great time – beautiful sunny weather. Actually, it has been in the 70s and sunny since we arrived – occasional rain shower in the afternoon. Very un-German weather according to Gary.
Anyway, Monday was spent with the plumbers here all day . The main guy speaks pretty well in English so he was keeping me updated. By the end of the day, we had four plumbers here – two “specialists” who they called in with special equipment. They had a camera on the end of a plumbing snake and a separate piece of equipment with a 10” screen (in color!) that showed what the camera was “seeing.” Sort of like endoscopy for sewers!
What they found was at the juncture where the three toilets and the showers drain, there is a root growing into the pipe. That they could take care of with their equipment except that there was also a ROCK lodged in the tree roots INSIDE the pipe! Go figure. On theory is it was the previous tenets who were sabotaging for some reason and another theory is it is actually hardened plaster and grout that workers doing the remodeling poured down the toilet to dispose of and it hardened when it got clumped around the tree root.
So, anyway, guess what? The pipe goes down from the main floor to the lower floor and runs under Ethan’s floor. The only way to get to the pipe to repair it is to tear up Ethan’s floor. So, this morning the hardwood floor guy arrived to tear up the wood floor. I imagine that underneath is concrete block – the house is a renovated old house and the walls are about 10” thick so I imagine the floor is equally “sturdy!” This is definitely a time we are VERY glad we are renters and not home owners!!!
So, anyway, guess what? The pipe goes down from the main floor to the lower floor and runs under Ethan’s floor. The only way to get to the pipe to repair it is to tear up Ethan’s floor. So, this morning the hardwood floor guy arrived to tear up the wood floor. I imagine that underneath is concrete block – the house is a renovated old house and the walls are about 10” thick so I imagine the floor is equally “sturdy!” This is definitely a time we are VERY glad we are renters and not home owners!!!
So for at least a week we are using the creepy bathroom in the cellar. Not too nice or convenient – especially in the middle of the night. It’s like those Girl Scout camping days when you lay in your sleeping bag in the middle of the night asking yourself just how badly you have to go because you don’t want to have to walk to the outhouse!!
Fortunately, we can still use the shower because “just water” can still go down the drain – although it goes quite slowly. At least we all don’t stink on top of everything else!
But, it all made for a loud day at the house today -- the gardeners finished spreading dirt and started in with chain saws to take down some trees out front (one being the tree with the errant roots!). At the same time, the floor guy finished taking up the hardwoods and began with the jackhammer to break through the concrete flooring. He's got the door to the room sealed with plastic (thankfully, or the whole house would be covered with concrete dust) so I cannot see his progress but, he's been at it for literally the last 5 hours...
Fortunately, we can still use the shower because “just water” can still go down the drain – although it goes quite slowly. At least we all don’t stink on top of everything else!
But, it all made for a loud day at the house today -- the gardeners finished spreading dirt and started in with chain saws to take down some trees out front (one being the tree with the errant roots!). At the same time, the floor guy finished taking up the hardwoods and began with the jackhammer to break through the concrete flooring. He's got the door to the room sealed with plastic (thankfully, or the whole house would be covered with concrete dust) so I cannot see his progress but, he's been at it for literally the last 5 hours...
Okay, now here's some pictures of the results of two days and 10 hours of "surgical" jackhammering...
That Jackhammer man was really getting on my nerve,(and even the song that gets on everybody's nerve doesn't do that!) I was innocently bored with nothing to do bEcause Ethan and Molly were at school while I wasn't. So I was trying to watch some TV, but that man would jackhammer for, like, a minute, then pause for, like, 30-seconds, then continuE on, with possibly the worst job ever...(I wonder ho many times he gets yelled at when he does this?!?!?). I was tempted to blast the volume on the TV, because I couldn't hear a thing and what was on looked interesting! I couldn't really read either because you can't concentrate on what your reading if what you hear in the backround is- NRGRRRODUNEOOOOIJKINNNNNNNNNRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG-
ReplyDeleteI wanted to wear earplugs. I was so mad then that I wanted to run down there and scream in his face to get a muffler for his jackhammer... but sadly, I couldn't, because when I was down there when he first started with the -NNNNRRRR, I had had no clue he was even there, so when it started it was like an extremely loud alarm-clock, that had a problem with it, was right by your ear. It gave me so much of a fright that I leaped up from the computer chair and sprinted up the stairs fast as my legs could carry me,(litterally)
Then, of course, when Molly and Ethan get home, Molly gets the idea to close the doors to the living room so we could get some peace an quiet.(Wher were you hours ago with that idea Molly?)(Yet even then you could still hear it) Shortly after we do that though, he STOPS IT!! It was possibly the most annoying experience I had since we moved!.. UGGGGGGGGGHH
sorry to complain to anyone how might be reading this,but I was angry then. I apollogize for telling you my "problems"
I have nothing else to say on the matter