I just came home from being in MN for 3 months. On my 2nd day back, I noticed that water was spewing out under the kitchen sink. I also noticed my dishwasher didn’t work – actually this is an annual problem something to do with the motor freezing up. It usually just takes opening up the bottom of the dishwasher and spinning the motor. Kind of an annoyance but it works. This year, however, it didn’t. The motor wouldn’t spin. The next day I went out to my garage and noticed a lot of water around my hot water heater. I’m starting to see a pattern here. The final straw was a few days later after mixing up a batch of cookies, I tried to turn on the oven and it wouldn’t work either. That’s when I decided that Aliens got into my house when I was gone. What else could it be???
Granted my townhouse isn’t new anymore. In fact, it’s 22 years old so things are going but REALLY? All at once???? After an emotional meltdown where I wondered if I could sell my condo with all these things going on and move back to the lake from where I had just come, I matured and decided a plan of action was in order. I contacted a friend of mine who likes to help me:) He and a friend of his installed a new garbage disposal so water is no longer spewing – it IS slowly leaking, however, so I still need to deal with that.
I can live without a dishwasher for now. Not having an oven that works (I discovered that it is due to a switch that wore out. Replacing said switch is about $450 just for the part! Remember, 22 years old). Since I can buy a whole oven for that and my stove and microwave still work, I can live without an oven for awhile, too.
The hot water heater, however, must be fixed. I had visions of it exploding all over my garage and car. That worried me a bit so that was my next item to tackle. My friend (see above) knows a lot of people and he knew someone who does plumbing. After calling several hot water places and discovering a new one would cost between $900 – $1200 and this friend of a friend would do it for $200 plus the water heater at Home Depot for $419, I decided on that route. Loren came over this morning. The plan was to have him pick me up, go to Home Depot to buy the water heater and then he would install it. He first wanted to look at it. Boy, am I grateful that he did! He discovered that it wasn’t leaking from the bottom as I had been told, but from the top. It turns out it was due to a couple of the bolts that go into the wall at the top not being tight anymore. He tightened them, wet-vacced under the heater, and wouldn’t charge me anything for his time. I am so grateful to Loren for saving me $900-1200! I will send him a card and a gift card to Home Depot!
I will have to find a way for the Aliens to not get in next summer.
