Update on my water leak situation

[Redwolf]

Well, it's been confirmed that we have a leak somewhere between the street and the house. Argh.

Now I have to get a hold of a guy who locates the leaks electronically, so the plumbers know what they're dealing with.

Part of the problem is that the pipe is evidently galvanized steel at street level, but copper by the time it reaches the house. Part of how much it will cost to fix will depend on how much is galvanized...from what I'm told, once that stuff starts to go, it's like Swiss cheese. They can spot patch it, but it will eventually just break loose in another place. Ideally, the thing to do will be to replace all the galvanized steel, so the less of that there is, the better.

The one bit of good news is that the pipe evidently runs in front of the house, then takes a turn into the driveway. Despite the fact that the driveway is concrete, that's good news because digging in our yard would be a nightmare. The whole yard is elevated five feet above street level, separated from the street by a retaining wall (the house itself sits well above street level...I think our yard rises another four to five feet from the retaining wall to the house). Under pretty much the entire yard is a huge, state-of-the-art (and painfully expensive) septic system. Around the yard is a very nice redwood and wire mesh fence that we need for our dog (we don't have a back yard). Locating the water pipes in there, and repairing them without damaging the septic system, the retaining wall, the fence or all three would be darned near impossible. What I'm really hoping is that the galvanized pipe is limited to the area in front of the house, as there'd be no need to patch up that asphalt after the work is done (most of the houses in our area don't have asphalt there anyway). If it's under the concrete driveway, we will have to patch it, and that will add even more expense.

Meanwhile, gallons and gallons of water are spilling merrily down into oblivion somewhere...not only jacking up our water bill astronomically, but also wasting water shamefully (and in a rationing year!). What we're doing now is turning the water off at the meter when we don't absolutely need it...which pretty much means turning it on for a couple of hours in the morning to shower, brush teeth, flush toilets and wash dishes; then for a couple of hours in the evening to shower, brush teeth, flush toilets and wash clothes. I went out and bought several big fridge jugs of bottled water to use for drinking and some wet wipes to use for hand washing.

Oh, and did I mention that my in-laws are visiting this weekend?

Pray for me. This is dire.

Redwolf

[DCrom]

Ouch!

Makes my grumbles about replacing the fence AND buying a car last weekend seem petty. Here's hoping it's as cheap/easy as possible.

[hyldemoer]

Pray for me. This is dire.

Girlfriend, I am lighting the candles as of now!

[cowtime]

Pray for me. This is dire.

Girlfriend, I am lighting the candles as of now!

Me too.

[Cynth]

I think you are doing all you can to cut down on losing water. And you took action as soon as you knew something was wrong. You have nothing to feel sorry about----this is what the idea of bringing water into our homes is all about. I don't suppose the in-laws could reschedule----probably tickets purchased, etc. Stay in a motel? That is the part that would be freaking me out. Once you get this fixed it will be fixed for your lifetime. I'm glad the pipe is in a better place than it could be---keep that idea fixed in your mind. Thanks for the update---I was wondering what you had heard. Keep us posted. This is a real adventure---an unfortunate one that's for sure, but still interesting and the rest of us might learn something from your trials.

[dfernandez77]

I was thinking about your challenge - not sure why.

You've got a plan of action, that's progress.

Hope it's a simple fix.

[Redwolf]

I think you are doing all you can to cut down on losing water. And you took action as soon as you knew something was wrong. You have nothing to feel sorry about----this is what the idea of bringing water into our homes is all about. I don't suppose the in-laws could reschedule----probably tickets purchased, etc. Stay in a motel? That is the part that would be freaking me out. Once you get this fixed it will be fixed for your lifetime. I'm glad the pipe is in a better place than it could be---keep that idea fixed in your mind. Thanks for the update---I was wondering what you had heard. Keep us posted. This is a real adventure---an unfortunate one that's for sure, but still interesting and the rest of us might learn something from your trials.

They can't really reschedule (they're on a cross country road trip, and besides, they want to be with my husband on his 50th, which is Monday), but I think they'll be fine...they both have good senses of humor, and they used to live in the third world, after all. Good thing, as you really can't get a motel room in Santa Cruz at this time of year. It's me that's freaking out because it's amazingly hard to clean house without water. I'll manage...hopefully without tearing too much of my hair out!

The big question of the moment is, which of us gets up first in the morning and runs down to the street to turn on the water for showers.

Redwolf

[Wombat]

I'm sorry to hear about your bad news Redwolf. But, as Cynth says, you're doing all you can and that's all you can demand of yourself. Good luck; I hope it turns out to be a relatively easy fix.

[Innocent Bystander]

Well done, Redwolf! Sorry for your trouble and your visitors. It brings it home, doesn't it, what we've come to take for granted. I've been through a few droughts with stand-pipes in the street. It's tedious, but you'll get through it.

[Sliabh Luachra]

Redwolf,

The easiest, quickest, and cheapest thing to do is just run a new (copper) line from the meter to your house. Leave the old line in. It won't hurt anything, and it's less disruptive to your yard. We had this problem about three years back. It was not fun. Good luck.

Mark

[Redwolf]

Redwolf,

The easiest, quickest, and cheapest thing to do is just run a new (copper) line from the meter to your house. Leave the old line in. It won't hurt anything, and it's less disruptive to your yard. We had this problem about three years back. It was not fun. Good luck.

Mark

If they do that, we will have to repave the driveway (the line appears to run under there). If they have to dig in the yard, we will have to pay for repairs to the fence, the retaining wall, and possibly the septic system (we don't have what most people would consider a "normal" yard...it's built up five feet above the street, and mostly taken up by a huge septic system). That's why we're hoping they can just replace the pipe in the street...anything else is going to cost a lot in damage repair.

Redwolf