Joe the Plumber

By now, with our old house, we have a pertty good understanding that anything can go wrong at anytime. And we know to expect the worse, always. Still, when something really does go wrong, you realize you'll never be a pro to deal with it. Guess what? It's always something different and new that gives you grief.
I came home from work this evening and found Joe on the dining room floor near the kitchen. Soon I saw he was ripping out the wall. He had found a leak from the sewer pipe from upstairs, but hadn't figured where exactly it was leaking, except it wasn't visible from the top or bottom joints. Of course. So he had to rip the wall to uncover the sewer pipe until he could see where the leak was. Underneath our painted pannels were plaster and lath, assumingly from the '20s. And behind that we could see some original plaster with horse hair, from the turn of the century! Pretty cool. We don't remember if we mentioned that our house used to stand about 10 blocks away in the old mining location. The previous owner bought this house and got it moved to the current location in 1964 or 5. Since they had modernized to that wonderful late '60s, '70s decor... and that was basically the condition in which we bought the house! We joke that our funky paint color choice must shock the spirit of the previous owner, ol' Bill Taylor. This house definitely has looong history.

Joe was almost convinced that the leak was from one of the joints. Again, there's always a surprise. There was a CRACK in the cast iron sewer pipe!! A biiiiggg crack, about a foot and a half, yes, you read it right, THRU THE CAST IRON PIPE. We were simply amazed.

We're fortunate to have another bathroom w/shower downstairs, to let the crack dry a bit before Joe can seal it. And I am very lucky to have married Mr. He-Can-Fix-Anything. Thank you, Joe!!!