When I left you on Friday, it was with a story about our leaking shower.
Which is really only the tip of the iceburg.
The plumbing in our master bath, along with what it's doing to our living room ceiling are the stuff of nightmares.
The house was built in 1928 which means that it has all these great architectural details like plaster ceiling moldings, french doors, and hardwood floors. Of course, this also means that it has 1928 plumbing which, on some levels is great (huge porcelain tubs and toilets with real power when you flush) but on other levels is awful because finding people who actually know how to fix it is like finding a needle in a haystack. Plus, much of the stuff to fix it with isn't made anymore.
(John has done some truly Edison worthy rigging in our toilet tanks to allow them to continue to function. The recent visiting plumber was actually impressed enough to ask John if he was an engineer. He's not. He just plays one in his comic strip.)
We moved in in 1998 and, three weeks after moving in (5 weeks before Christmas and guests) we had a terrible incident involving our master bath tub. I had come home after a really long gig and was exhausted and decided to take a nice long hot soak in the big tub. Because it's so deep, you can really fill it up and settle in. Well, after I was done and was draining the tub, I heard John downstairs shouting at the top of his lungs "Stop!! Stop it!!! Stop!!"
It turns out all the water was draining into the space between the bathroom floor and the living room ceiling and it was literally raining in our living room. That's when most of our current ceiling cracks got started. In fact, as we were mopping up all the water (thank goodness we got to it right away so it didn't ruin the oak floor) I looked up and saw cracks in the ceiling starting to form in the shape of the tub outline.
Ever seen that movie "The Money Pit" ?
Remember the scene where the tub falls through the floor into the room below?
I seriously thought that was going to happen any minute.
Thankfully, it didn't. When the plumber came later we found out that, once upon a time, someone had the bright idea of taking off the pipe at the back of the tub into which the overflow goes and they didn't cap it off or anything. So, when I filled the tub past the faucet level and then drained it, it created sort of a syphon that sucked all the water into the overflow and gushed it right out into the floor. (And don't tell me that's what I get for filling the tub past the faucet level - what's the point of a tub 18 inches deep if you can only fill it to 10 inches? We have since put silicone around the overflow hole. So there!)
Since then, I'm pretty sure we've had other issues that are ongoing but invisible. The shower valve has been leaking for years, apparently, and the toilet used to have a leak near the spot where the tank joins the bowl and there is water damage to the bathroom floor behind the toilet that is probably ten times worse underneath.
I've been crossing my fingers all these years that the ceiling doesn't come down on us. We absolutely don't have the money to redo the entire bathroom but we're going to finally have to open the LR ceiling at least and deal with whatever plumbing issues are going on in there. Part of the problem is finding a plasterer that will do a good job and match the original plaster. Plus avoid damaging the plaster crown moldings.
I'm praying we can at least put if off until January after the big Christmas party.
And, of course, I am desperately hoping that, when we do open the ceiling, we don't hear the plumber say "Uh Oh........"
Cross your fingers for me!
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