I'm going to cheat and copy & paste an email I sent my son. After our house was flooded (see previous posts on my blog) I had 2 minor repairs that I needed to do before even thinking about starting the big hard stuff.

1. Replace a small amount of rug padding in the study that got wet. That would allow me to put back the chair and bookcase against the wall and restack all the stuff that came out of the bkcase that is now clogging up the study (where Bob's bike is) and all the open spaces in the living room. That would return 2 rooms to normal. Everytime the guy was supposed to come to do that quick job, the weather turned severe and it didn't happen. Still 2 rooms waiting.

2. There was a small tiny leak discovered under my master bath. The hallway in this bath was the one leading to the bedroom carpet and the worse area of huge mess. Once the 5 pieces of drying equipment were removed, I still could not put my bathroom back into being functioning, because of these leaks. I needed to get them fixed so I could put my 4 drawers back in the cabinet and load the bigger things into the door opening in the cabinet. These bigger things on the floor, block my tub/shower access.

So, finally, last Saturday, someone came to work on the sink, here is the result:

He came and worked on it for 5 hours. He removed 2 things that were a little seepy, and replaced them. Unfortunately, the 2 places he screwed the replacements on were also a little seepy. I hoped it would do like often happens, and seal itself by crusting over, which often happens with very small leaks or seepage. Finally, I called him yesterday(Thurs) and told him it was still seeping, and I wasn’t able to put my drawers back together, because I’d been giving it a chance to crust over, but I needed to go ahead and get it taken care of. He came over last night. The one place, at the turn off valve, actually had sealed and stopped! It had been still doing all day & night Wed, but by Thurs, it was good. He put on a different kind of compression coupling for the line going up to the faucet and it was not leaking, nor seeping. He asked if I wanted him to put my drawers back in for me, but I said, no, I wanted to take everything out and clean them and I knew how to put them in. They left (husband & wife team -and friends).

That night, when I had some free time, I gleefully cleaned out my drawers and began to slide them back into the cabinet. The last drawer I put in, which happened to be the middle drawer, started sliding in... then CLONK! Would you believe the hose he put on was hanging down in the way, preventing it from closing?! Now I see why the copper pipe they had in there originally was twisted up and deformed in such a way – to clear the drawer. I couldn’t believe my eyes and wondered why they would sell any cabinet with drawers so deep they’d hit the plumbing. Then I began to notice things about the cabinet – things that showed that it had been custom made, undoubtedly by the builder and original owner. Other adjustments he’d made, to make the drain fit in. So.... just wonder why he didn’t shorten that drawer, while he was busy making it less wide. I guess he figured the copper would twist up there, so why mess with a completed drawer with lots of sliding hardware on it already. Anyway, I dreaded calling my worker friend and telling them that there was ANOTHER PROBLEM. But he came back tonight and twisted a piece of copper and was able to get clearance. So.... the sink & cabinet & drawers that have been out of commision since Feb 6 – & actually keeping the whole bathroom from functioning (bottles all over the floor blocking tub that goes in that cabinet) – SEEMS to be ok. I hold my breath a little and wonder if I dare to put the things back in drawers & cabinet tonight... maybe tomorrow.... it's possible it will once again be a functioning bathroom.... ?

Oh, and I'd like to report that since this mess happened, Bob has spent more time in his room and was bored crazy and started trying to read more. He has had a significant upgrade in his reading ability!