De-railed; Again

Well, I know I haven't posted in a couple of days. Life has certainly derailed all my good intentions! On Friday I had to go to a training for my job. I left home about 6 in the morning and didn't get back until after 8:30 at night.  As I was getting ready to crawl into bed I could hear water running in my bathroom. Under the floor. I went outside and looked around but couldn't see anything so I just turned the water off at the main and went to bed exhausted and sore.

When I got up this morning I began by turning the water on just a bit. Definitely under the house. Which really sucks because there is no crawl space. Only a few inches between the floor and the dirt under there. Knowing that there is one water pipe under the floor of the spare bedroom (oh don't get me started on that idiocy!) I went in there and listened carefully. Put my ear on the wall by where I thought I heard the water in the bathroom. Yup. Definitely coming from under the bathtub area.

Which sucks because the only way to access the pipes is to take up the floor. I had the whole big piece of plywood all undone but couldn't get it to come out. I think it is nailed down in one corner under a projecting wall. (and especially don't get me started on the asinine way my bathroom is currently put together!) I finally had to just cut a chunk of plywood out of the way with my sawzall.

Have I ever told you I am in LOVE with my sawzall? Cut through anything like it's warm butter! Walls, floors, wood, metal, I think they make blades that will cut through anything! Great for demolition work!

I even used the wood blades to cut out chunks of a tree stump I needed to remove once!

But I digress. I think part of what happened was maybe there was a pinhole leak at the pipe join and some tree roots grew in and made it worse. Or maybe the joint just wasn't glued the best in the first place. To get to this I had to rip up the tile off the floor and then like I said I tried to pry it up after getting out all the screws and nails, finally just cutting part of it out with the sawzall. Well that left the floor that remained covered in adhesive from the tile.


Then I had to lay down on the floor and reach under and dig the dirt and roots out with a hand trowel. At first I couldn't tell exactly where the water was coming from. So kept having to turn the water off and on until I could see where the problem was. Then clear the mud away and get the joint the rest of the way apart, use some rags to get it as clean and dry as I could and then glued it back together.

I did all this a bit at a time, laying on my belly and having to reach in under the floor, mostly with one hand. So now I am covered in dirt and my whole front and the soles of my shoes are sticky with the adhesive....

Wait awhile and turn the water back on just a smidge. Then go check for leaks. Turn the water on a little more, check for leaks. Turn it on full blast and check for leaks. Whew. All done. Now I just have to replace the bathroom floor.....