Water Troubles

It began with pipes freezing—many of them. We discovered that an entire exterior wall, which had minimal insulation, was filled with water pipes that subsequently froze, burst, and then flooded the house.

With quick thinking Brook hooked up the trailer and came home with 2 dozen bales of straw and some plywood. He went to work building a hut on the outside of the house where he could work on the plumbing. After 3 days of digging in the straw bale hut and pulling insulation off the house, Brook broke out in hives all over his body! Determined to get our water back on, he persevered and we finally were flowing again in less than a week.

Only a few days later we had ice dams forming on the eaves of the roof and they were leaking water back into the house. There was a literal waterfall in the enclosed breezeway. We knew of needed roof repairs and took this time to record the problem areas for the following summer projects.

Unfortunately, we discovered that the new water softener we installed is only connected to the laundry sink, not the rest of the house. 😞 This means we'll have to rearrange things again once the addition is completed (or at least covered). Additionally, even though we have an R/O filter in the kitchen, our new on-demand hot water heater is receiving direct well water. Ugh, not ideal.

It's understandable if the house layout seems confusing to you. We faced challenges explaining this process and our issues to contractors. It required numerous drawings and videos for us to develop a plan. Stay tuned, and we'll share the details!