A Long, Long Day

We wanted to dedicate today to plumbing the new water softener so we would be out of the way for the tile setters tomorrow. To properly cut into the main water line of the house, we had to turn off the water to the entire house, and we were sure that the tile setters tomorrow would not have been pleased to be without water!

When Rick got out of bed this morning, he was terribly bruised from all of the attic work he did yesterday.  His ribs and arm where he was lying on the rafters left large patches of bruises.  Then today as he was drilling through the concrete block of the house, the drill bit got stuck and jerked his hand into the concrete wall.  The result is a bruise that looks like he was on the losing side of a fist fight.

Remodeling sometimes leaves its mark.

We started at approximately 8:00 a.m. by digging down outside the front of the house to expose the plumbing lines.  While we had the corner of the yard open, I took pictures of the location of the plumbing pipes so we would have those dimensions for future reference.  I cannot count the number of times in the past three years that we have referred to the pictures we took when the walls and ceilings were exposed.  Knowing what is behind that drywall can be very important as remodeling continues.

The main water line to the house is buried just a few inches
from the front of the house and the driveway.  Unlike the
pipes in Wisconsin, these pipes are only a few inches deep.

As we were exposing the pipes, we saw some rusty metal half buried under the pipes that ran parallel to the driveway.

"Is that another pipe?" Rick asked.  I looked a little closer and noticed a very familiar shape.  They were claws, but not to an animal.

"No," I said as I pulled it from the ground. "It's a hammer!"  Some time in the past someone must have dropped his hammer into the open ground, and someone else inadvertently buried it.  Gladys has given me "gifts" from the ground in the past: a flower pot, a statue of a deer, and a beautiful glass bowl.  This time she came through with a gift for Rick.  

The hammer is a "Rocket" brand of which neither Rick nor I have ever heard.  Apparently Rocket Hammers are no longer made, but research told me that many people liked Rocket hammers for their weight and quality.  This hammer is pretty rusty, although the handle is in fairly good shape and is quite comfortable.  Does anyone know what to use to remove probably 30 years of rust on a hammer?

Gladys gives Rick a gift, and then he drilled two holes
into her wall!

The finished water softener awaits only
salt and activation, but that can wait
until tomorrow.

Plumbing a water softener is not particularly difficult, but it is a time-consuming, putzy job.  Rick decided to use copper instead of PEX, so everything had to be measured twice, cut once, dry-fitted, and then soldered together. Getting all of the right joints and tools sent us to the hardware store and Lowe's three times.  The final trip was the most frustrating because Rick had soldered everything together, and when he turned on the water, one of the connections leaked above the ball-cock shut off valve.  By that time of the day, he was bruised and  tired, and having to cut apart what he had just soldered all together was not a good feeling.

After we had the water running smoothly, we still had to face the drain.  That actually was much easier to complete because it was CPVC pipe and consisted of far less parts and joints.  As Rick finished the drain pipe, I went outside to put the dirt back into position that we had removed this morning.  We finished a little after 5:00 p.m. to finish the job.

I am usually the "clean up crew," but I must admit that the garage is still a disastrous jumble of tools that need to be put away. I am tired, and Rick is bruised and exhausted.  Tomorrow is another day, and I am sure that the clean up will wait until then.