Life Without Water

Last Wednesday our neighbor from two houses down came and told us their backyard was flooded and they had traced the trail of water back to our house. They even checked our meter for us to confirm their suspicion... we had a water leak. Our meter was spinning like crazy! So, the next day we called the utility company to come and check the line and turn the water off. I also missed school and contacted a couple of plumbers, our home insurance agency, and my brother-in-law who is a real plumber in Arizona.

Kevin dug and dug and dug out by the side of our house where our lawn was the most saturated and a small green spot had popped up. He was unsuccessful in finding a pipe or leak. The plumbers that came out looked at where we had dug and both confirmed there was a foundation leak. What is a foundation leak you ask? It is a leak that is in a pipe that is under your foundation. Good news? Its the worst type of leak you can have! After talking to the plumbers and Allen (my BIL), Kevin decided we were going to fix it ourselves...

This resulted in him taking out the sink and cabinet in the boys bathroom, cutting open the wall, finding the manifold, jack-hammering the foundation out, digging, eliminating possible lines that were leaking, and more digging. He was able to eliminate the tub line, which would have been the easiest to fix, and the kitchen line which would have been the hardest. He then found the supply line and cut it off. When we tested again for hte leak... it was still leaking. So good news, not under the house! Bad news, it was leaking where it came into the house and we didn't know where that was. So after spending the weekend digging and trying to find where the heck out water line was, we called in the Lead Detection PROS! They were able to locate our waterline for us and show what the problem was.

With this information, Kevin dug out another hole in our yard (#5), but it was in the flower bed and under a bush and fixed the leak. So now our water is fixed, mostly. The kitchen sink is having some pressure issues, but hey I'll take it! After almost a week without water I will take whatever I can get.

Perks of having water:

• flush-able toilets
• working washing machine
• a dishwasher
• working showers
• ice/water from fridge
• being able to wash my hands

I will forever be grateful for the benefits of running water and wonderful friends :)

Thanks to Whitney and Kara who so willingly helped our family with showers and delicious meals while our water was out of commission :)