Terra Cotta - Great for Pots, Not for Pipes PART 2 (or Why I've Been MIA)

OK, so this week has been REALLY rough. If you will refer to this post you will be up to date with our situation.

OK, so they flushed the pipes and came back to see what the problem was (they couldn't see for all the "gunk" last time). In one month we were completely backed up again! I was so discouraged. Here is the whole tale.

The plumbers came out and put in their camera to take a look. After ~16 feet they were to the NEW back up. The plumber took his little "find the camera" thingy (like a metal detector) and went outside to find the camera. I watched from the basement door. He paced out about 16 feet and started looking in an arc to find the spot of the problem. The arc got closer and closer to our home. (at this point I am praying "not in the house, not in the house, not in the house") When he came back to the door he said, "well, we're in the house."

"NNNNNOOOOOOO!!!!"

He searched in the basement and found the spot. In our family room. IN our family room!! IN OUR FAMILY ROOM!!!

We scheduled the excavation (read: jackhammer 8 feet of our floor and remove the "contaminated material" and busted pipe) for the next day (Tuesday, March 5th). I took the day off of work, my bosses were very understanding, and stayed at home to "supervise" the work. (read: Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. Oh, and pray)

At the end of the day there was a big hole in the floor of our home and more bad news. The pipe INSIDE our house is collapsing (read: $5,800) and we need to fix it soon. The pipe OUTSIDE our house is collapsing (read: $6,000) and we need to replace it. After spending almost $4,000 on this emergency repair I was a little shell shocked.

I have been very dejected from all this. DH has been working so hard during this outage and I have been handling all the communication with the plumber. I was mortified to find out that we needed $11,000 worth of work done. I was scared and depressed.

DH came home yesterday and gave me a big hug. We talked about the situation. The inside pipe can wait for a while. The only pipe they were talking about was from the floor drains in the storage side of the basement and the laundry sink. (NOT all the plumbing in the house) The inside repairs can wait. (Praise the Lord) As for the outside repairs, we will get a second opinion. DH has received a reputable plumber's name from one of the guys he works with. This co-worker was born and raised in this community and his family is very involved. He is a GREAT source for recommendations.

For now, we have the emergency fixed, the pipe has been replaced and the hole has been filled with new concrete. We can use the "facilities" as well as the dishwasher and laundry. We can wait until we get a second estimate for the outside work and save for the rest of the inside work.

I am so much more peaceful. I was trying to stay my mind on the promise of God "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28. I love God, I am called, I must trust in Him to work things together for good.

As I was digesting that the family room carpet would have to be torn up for the jackhammer to get in there I thought about the fact that I was so disappointed when we couldn't re-carpet the basement when we first moved in two years ago. We have this harsh RED carpet in there right now. There is NO padding left and it is cold because of the concrete beneath it. Now I see the "work together for good" in that situation. We would have had to tear up the new carpet to fix this problem if we had gone in debt to put the carpet in the family room. "Thank you God, you knew this was coming and made it less painful by 'working together for good'."

Well, I will post on my weekend later, including pictures, but for right now I am going to listen to some calm music and thank God for His love and care for my family.