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wizardmickey
06-24-2007, 01:20 AM
Well, the story goes something like this...
Friday morn as I left the foyer of our main house & stepped outside to leave for work, I noticed water pooling in our driveway. Problem was, it hadn't rained at all. So, I instructed Christy to call our Home Warranty Insurance peeps to see what was what & off I went to work.
She called me a few hours later to say that the Insurance peeps had no Plumbers under contract in our area & had authorized her to find her own to see what the problem was. They also told her we'd have to pay the contractor up front?!?! At this point I was a bit mildly perturbed, so I left work & called the Insurnace Co. while I drove to clarify things (simply some miscommunications.)
Anyhow, it turns out that, since our house was built circa 1930, the galvanized pipes had finally rotted & would need replacing from street to house & then back to the guest house. Initial estimate was $4000 & Insurance agreed to reimburse us $2000. Their own plumber (company name withheld to ensure safety of their employee) said company wouldn't even be able to fix piping until Monday. He said if we'd agree to pay him instead as an independant contractor $1700 he would begin work first thing the next day, but since he wasn't bonded (he is licsensed & warranties his work) the Insurance Co. most likely would not agree to reimburse us. So, quandry was; go with comapny he works for and pay 2 Grand out of pocket (4 Grand up front) or let him do job right away & pay $1700 instead...
So all day long we had plumbers digging trenches & cutting holes in walls & running pipes all over the place (that we will need to paint over & camoflauge) whilst I smoked 10 lbs. of chicken, 5 lbs of sausage & a boneless roast for their lunch. They worked from 9 am to almost 8 pm, but it is done & we now have running water again. Tomorrow will be spent cleaning messes they left behind painting/patching/hiding the exposed piping...
On the plus side: we had finished our new porch to the Guest House & now we have brand new piping for the entire property!
It's now :beer::beer::beer: time for Ice!!!

janmathatter
06-24-2007, 01:33 AM
What kind of plumbers were these guys, Amazons? That is a lot of meat for lunch, most ppl just get a double cheeseburger and some fries. Glad to know my guest house has running water and nice new pipes. Keep up the good work.

wizardmickey
06-24-2007, 01:40 AM
Amazons? No, just 4 very hot, sweaty & hungry young men who put in a LOT of hard work making my house & your Guest House capable of having running water again.
Now it's up to us to hide the few exposed pipes they had to leave behind...

Chescat
06-24-2007, 01:43 AM
Sounds like you had Cat and JP over for lunch. :eat::eat:

wizardmickey
06-24-2007, 01:50 AM
Chescat Sounds like you had Cat and JP over for lunch.
Y'think?!? I didn't even mention all of the side dishes: 2 lbs of tater salad, some veggie salad & a mess of corn on the cob.
Y'see, when we cook here in the South, we generally cook enough to feed a small Army. And today just happened to be a good day for cooking! (And anytime I fire up the smoker I just gotta load it down with as much meat as I can!)
So, should any of y'all ever make it out this way, I can demonstrate the meaning of "Southern Hospitality" for you!

TinkRocks
06-24-2007, 05:11 AM
Southern Hospitality?

Absolutely no idea what you're talkin' about... ;):rolleyes:

mickeynuts
06-24-2007, 09:55 AM
I knew I liked you Ice, you cook like me!
Sorry about the trouble but glad it's all worked out, Cheese won't have to use the outhouse now when she visits :D
:cool: Laura

RenDuran
06-24-2007, 12:33 PM
After that cookout, I hope all your guests had their cholesterol levels checked! ;)

Glad you got things taken care of....there's nothing worse than no water! Well, except maybe no electricity, no internet, no vmk or intercot......

chrisb26
06-24-2007, 12:41 PM
Arg sorry to hear about all those pipes I'm sure that is no fun. But at least it is all fixed now and you have running water. Which is very good because I'm sure cheese would not have appreciated having no running water in her guest house.

Patricia
06-24-2007, 02:56 PM
Wow, lucky you able to get it fixed so quickly. I'm still waiting for an electrician to show up here. He said he would be here tomorrow.. that was back in 2005. Sigh.

Maybe I need a smoker in my back yard to lure them in.

mickeytinkerbellprincess
06-24-2007, 11:06 PM
Y'think?!? I didn't even mention all of the side dishes: 2 lbs of tater salad, some veggie salad & a mess of corn on the cob.

Sounds like my mom when she goes wild trying to make us her taste testers. And all the while we're being tied up to our dinner chairs. :hide: :hide2:

wizardmickey
06-25-2007, 01:31 AM
... and as we all shook hands and said goodbye, they said:
"So, we'll be back again next Saturday around 6 then?"
and I was all like, "6 am or pm? And for what? Is something wrong?"
"Nah, we'll be back to eat."
"But I won't be home... I'm going to Houston next week."
"So just precook us grub & leave it out here in the backyard!"
Yeah, right. As it is, I went to use the garden hose & got nothing. So I called the dude back to let him know & he admitted they had forgotten to hook that line up. So, since I am off Wednesday (for a follow-up on my back) and he is off from his regular job that day as well, he will come to make good so I can water all the lovely plants outside of Cheese's Guest House.

janmathatter
06-25-2007, 12:55 PM
Never feed the guys working on your house that well!! They did it on purpose to get more food. Hey I would have left a hammer, or screwdriver there, and then conveniently dropped by around dinnertime to pick it up. (What time is that usually btw?)

wizardmickey
06-25-2007, 11:53 PM
Dinner-time is usually... well, depends on the day of the week. Work nights around 6:30-ish; Band nights about 5-ish; weekends are for the big time cookouts (all day affairs!)

And now, the pipe coming out of the meter on the street has sprung a leak. Seems they missed that pipe as well (patching their new pipe into the old pipe out of the meter...) So today was assesment & digging, tomorrow they bring a tool that (I guess) drills sideways under the sidewalk so they don't have to bust up cement to replace about 3 feet of pipe. And then Wednesday he still comes to hook up my outside spigots.

But there shall be no food. I know better now.

wizardmickey
06-27-2007, 12:07 AM
After a day & a half of waiting, we have water again. The yard however looks like an army of gophers decided to move in, but grass does grow quickly here.

Tomorrow they come to hook back up the outdoor spigots, so I can wash away muddy footprints & water everything. Yay!!

Patricia
06-27-2007, 02:57 PM
Oh my Ice. Why is it one job always leads to another?

I had a plumber come to fix a leak under my kitchen sink. After he left I had a new leak onthe other side. When he came back, to fix that, he broke a pipe.. so, he had to fix that as well. Then after all that, he left with my flashlight. I never did get the light back.. sigh.

RicksCafe
06-27-2007, 03:06 PM
I had a plumber come to fix a leak... he came back... he broke a pipe...he had to fix that... he left with my flashlight.Two words: stalker plumber.

Clever, yes... but creeeeeepy.

-shudders-

Ricks (who's just glad his plumber doesn't have pants problems.... come on! someone had to say it!)