Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Collateral Damage
Down the Drain...
Ok, I'm finding myself in an increasingly disturbing pattern that can best be described as collateral damage. This past week, it has struck again. The issue is that some minor problem crops up at my house and in the process of fixing that problem, another problem is found. It all started with the squirrels in the attic.
On Friday my sink and dishwasher were backed up, so I called the plumber to snake the drain. The plumber ran into some problems and wanted to see the 'stack' where all the pipes come together. The stack is in my crawl space which is basically the front 1/4 of my house (the back 3/4 is a finished basement that was redug when the house was rehabbed.) So anyway, the plumber cuts through my basement drywall and wiggles into the crawl space. The plumbing checks out just fine but he then points out something more disturbing. A hole in my foundation.
Yup, it seems my foundation has a nearly 1ft sq. hole where the bricks have popped into the crawl space. There doesn't seem to be any apparent structural issues (no sagging of the floor or anything)... but there is a small section where about 12 bricks have just popped out as a unit. As much as I would just like to jam them back in like some legos, I think a real solution will be much more expensive.
Of course when the foundation guy comes to fix the wall, I'm sure he'll tell me that my house is built on an ancient Indian burial ground.
Ok, I'm finding myself in an increasingly disturbing pattern that can best be described as collateral damage. This past week, it has struck again. The issue is that some minor problem crops up at my house and in the process of fixing that problem, another problem is found. It all started with the squirrels in the attic.
On Friday my sink and dishwasher were backed up, so I called the plumber to snake the drain. The plumber ran into some problems and wanted to see the 'stack' where all the pipes come together. The stack is in my crawl space which is basically the front 1/4 of my house (the back 3/4 is a finished basement that was redug when the house was rehabbed.) So anyway, the plumber cuts through my basement drywall and wiggles into the crawl space. The plumbing checks out just fine but he then points out something more disturbing. A hole in my foundation.
Yup, it seems my foundation has a nearly 1ft sq. hole where the bricks have popped into the crawl space. There doesn't seem to be any apparent structural issues (no sagging of the floor or anything)... but there is a small section where about 12 bricks have just popped out as a unit. As much as I would just like to jam them back in like some legos, I think a real solution will be much more expensive.
Of course when the foundation guy comes to fix the wall, I'm sure he'll tell me that my house is built on an ancient Indian burial ground.
