Blog Master G

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This Old House

Friday, January 28th, 2005 · No Comments

14below.png It turns out that the partially frozen pipes I addressed on Monday weren’t frozen at all. It was just a matter of old pipe sediment having built up inside the little drainage thing in the kitchen sink. That was quite the relief. So this morning, when it happened again, I felt like a pro, knowing exactly what to look for.

Earlier, while adjusting the timer on the thermostat — we’re getting tougher and tougher this winter and keep lowering the temperature (55 while we sleep, 60 in the evenings, etc.) because we want to save money on the utility bill — I heard a distinct “drip, drip” from down in the basement. “Uh oh,” I thought. It’s the infamous leaking pipe that causes the cellar to flood. I threw on my sandals and went charging down. Thankfully (knock on wood) the problem I found wasn’t all that bad. There was a leak from one of the PVC pipes, but it was pretty minor.

I found some blue masking tape (probably more effective than shipping tape but less effective than gaffer’s tape, which I thought I had around here somewhere) and applied the band-aid solution to the problem. Now I’m going to have to learn how to fix leaking pipes for real.

Oh, the joys of owning an 80-year-old house!

In other news, the treemometer is finally cooperating with me and showing sub-zero temperatures when it’s actually sub-zero. I suppose it had to get down to -14 before the treemometer would show -10.

Tags: home ownership