Fixing the Leak

One of the little projects we needed down when we moved besides replacing the water heater was getting a leak fixed. Because our home was a foreclosure it was bought 'as is' so its one of the several little things I needed to get done.

There was a huge water stain along the wall behind where the washing machine sits. You could tell the cold water value was leaking and the 'little white box' that the faucets and drain to the hose sits in was cracked. (I don't what you call it other than little white box - the pic to the side is not exactly like mine but close as I could find on a google imagine search)

So a week ago today after we closed, I went over to the house and the first thing I did was rip out the drywall that was stained by that water leak. It was worse than I thought as the drywall was anything but a 'dry' wall. It was soggy wet at the baseboard.

When Jack the Installer came, I had him look at the leak but according to Lowe's policy he couldn't do the work. He said it looked like it just needed a new washer and would be easy. He also said that the crack in the white box was no big deal because if I replaced the washer that would solve the leak from the valve and my washer's drain hose would hook below that.

So I thought, 'hey I can do this. I'll just get my boss, Kenny, who is handy with stuff to come out and help me.' So we moved in Wednesday and the guys just put my washer and dryer in the garage. I called Ken that night. He was busy on Thursday but came by on Friday. We tried to unscrew the valve so we could replace the washer but to no avail. It looked like it was a bigger job and we figured we might make it worse.

(While Ken couldn't solve my dilemma his wife Diane did make us a meal - Chicken Enchiladas - last night.)

Last night, I called a fix-it man, Dave Higerd, whose wife goes to our church. So Dave comes over this morning and works from 9-12. It was a bigger job. The whole thing was stripped and needed replacing. He had to cut out the old faucets and replace them along with the white box. While he was there, I just had him switch over the dryer outlet. It was an old 3-prong outlet and the new dryer's have 4-prongs. I could have done it but was glad I let him do it because when I turned off the breaker marked 'dryer' he was able to check it and see that we still had power. So my breaker box is not marked correctly. I could have shocked myself if I had done it!

Anyway, Dave helped me move in the dryer and washer from the garage. We attached them and made sure they both worked with no leaks. I still need to redo the drywall behind the washer but that will be a weekend project. Just glad to get that done so we can start to get some clothes washed. We all will be wearing clean underwear tomorrow! Except Jack and Drew they are still in diapers.

Two projects (Leak fixed and dryer outlet changed) down 10,000 or so more to go.