Ack! ATSers, I need cyber-support .... undergoing major house repairs!!

Yeah, so, my house is 73 years old, and was built with virtually indestructible parts, not repair/replacement friendly...

the other day I noticed the tiles above the tub were sunken in...
pulled them down, found the entire wall was disintrageted, thought I could patch it up myself. HA!! ha hahaha
but knew it would be a mushroom-project nightmare.

Have a neighbor who's a contractor, got him lined up to to a whole bathroom job at a great price. Today was supposed to start (continue) demolition.
Sure enough, yesterday, discovered that the main supply line in the basement is comPLETELY rusted out and dripping...yesterday it was drip, drip...the fixture where the line comes out of the THICK STONE FOUNDATION...ealier today it was drip drip drip drip...by the time they got here it was a stream. Fabulous...

the guys just went to rent a jackhammer. Sledge hammer and huge chisel didn't even TOUCH the stone. Probably have to dig up part of the front yard, too. What a nightmare!!

Anyway, just whining, and asking most humbly for your well-wishes and prayers if you like...
(yeah, yeah, "FIRST WORLD PROBLEM", I know).....
but it's a biggie, and we aren't wealthy. I used to be able to do home repair stuff myself...now I'm too old and weak, and this house, solid and charming as it is, is a formidable opponent.
(and, please, for those of you I rankle, don't curse me right now.....I can't afford any more problems than I have already!!)

Like, my little Honda bit the dust on July 4, and now I have to get a replacement car AND a replacement bathroom. Ack.

I heart ATS.
Keepin' it cool, keepin' it real.

I feel for you and hope it doesn't get any worse for you.

We are starting our bathroom, from ceiling to floor this fall. Scares me worrying about the extras that pop up.

reply to post by chiefsmom

Thanks...yep, it's scary...

helps to know how many other people have the same probs with older homes....
glad it's built well, but MAN is it hard to do maintenance!!

I'll keep you in my thoughts, too!
btw, does your username have anything to do with the football team?

If they’ve run pipes through/under the slab, who knows what else is under there and where it is? A concrete saw wouldn’t be a clever idea. If you can’t manage to put a dint in this stone with a jack hammer, try a hammer drill. Drill a series of holes and then after with the jack hammer you should be able to burst it apart. A standard jack hammer I’d think would struggle to do an awful lot of damage on its own, if this stone is as hard as you say. They chew through concrete because it’s a series of small stones (aggregate) bound together by sand and cement powder and hence breaks apart fairly easily under such treatment.

Originally posted by wildtimes
Yeah, so, my house is 73 years old, and was built with virtually indestructible parts, not repair/replacement friendly...

the other day I noticed the tiles above the tub were sunken in...
pulled them down, found the entire wall was disintrageted, thought I could patch it up myself. HA!! ha hahaha

but knew it would be a mushroom-project nightmare.

Have a neighbor who's a contractor, got him lined up to to a whole bathroom job at a great price. Today was supposed to start (continue) demolition.
Sure enough, yesterday, discovered that the main supply line in the basement is comPLETELY rusted out and dripping...yesterday it was drip, drip...the fixture where the line comes out of the THICK STONE FOUNDATION...ealier today it was drip drip drip drip...by the time they got here it was a stream. Fabulous...

the guys just went to rent a jackhammer. Sledge hammer and huge chisel didn't even TOUCH the stone. Probably have to dig up part of the front yard, too. What a nightmare!!

Anyway, just whining, and asking most humbly for your well-wishes and prayers if you like...
(yeah, yeah, "FIRST WORLD PROBLEM", I know).....
but it's a biggie, and we aren't wealthy. I used to be able to do home repair stuff myself...now I'm too old and weak, and this house, solid and charming as it is, is a formidable opponent.
(and, please, for those of you I rankle, don't curse me right now.....I can't afford any more problems than I have already!!)

Like, my little Honda bit the dust on July 4, and now I have to get a replacement car AND a replacement bathroom. Ack.

I heart ATS.
Keepin' it cool, keepin' it real.

edit on 21-8-2012 by wildtimes because: (no reason given)

edit on 21-8-2012 by wildtimes because: (no reason given)

Drop the main supply line, plug it and lay a new one. Ugly, I know, but much cheaper. Above the finery, if necessary.

Otherwise buy/rent a moulding cutter, cut deep and wide enough for the new line and do some plaster work. Not too hard for a working man, I think. I got help doing this by someone who did this before, it was quite fun. Not something I would like to do for a living, as its dusty as hell..

Nevertheless, you can't do anything with the rusty old pipe, forget it. If you can't unbury it, plug it. Build a new one. Or use something like fluid sealant, which should harden if touched by oxygen (so you have to keep water in the pipe for some hours standing, not running).

Have fun. Plumbing can be fun if you have the sparetime for it

reply to post by BlindBastards


Well, it's a full, unfinished basement...the water supply line comes in through the front wall about 3 feet below yard level...The stone foundation rock is of unknown thickness...probably about a foot to 18".
they have a small jackhammer, and they're down there banging on it with the chisel, too...and I hear a saw...

nightmare. I'm so glad to be sitting her typing while THEY do the work. I've had my day in the sun as a DIY gal...
*sigh*
Got tons of supplies and tools and know-how....just not enough strength, and no help. Having to hire help is reminding me that I'm getting older. boo.

reply to post by ManFromEurope

Drop the main supply line, plug it and lay a new one. Ugly, I know, but much cheaper.

Yeah, that was what I was thinking, too....but to keep it below frost line, it pretty much HAS to be through the stone foundation. Doesn't it?

Either way we're talking drilling through the stone into the yard.
I don't care about pretty -- the basement is unfinished, concrete floor with a drain, utilities, washer/dryer....
etc

Get outside, dig up where the lne runs nto the house maybe you can just cut the lne there and re drive new through the old hole.....??
The diggng will in all likelyhood have to be done anyways....
At least you can tackle the thing from both sides.....
Why is the walls disintegrated??
Do you have NO vent in place n bathroom?
Are the studs or floor done n too?

reply to post by wildtimes


Yeah, I'm nervous about it, but we have a general contractor/neighbor that already volunteered to help so that's good.

About the name, LOL Nope, no team, I am a Lions fan

reply to post by stirling

At least you can tackle the thing from both sides.....

Only below the yard level. The front of the house is masonry -- field stone. Can't get to the bathroom from the outside without taking down the stone wall. So, all the bathroom work has to be done from inside.

The walls were plasterboard...not drywall...and the moisture came in either from behind the gutter where the fascia is (no eaves on this baby)...or from the "shower" (one of those hose-that-attaches-to-the-faucet things) dampening it from the house side (the tiles only go up to below the window...was orig just a bathtub.)

Yes, there's a vent in the ceiling that joins to the FP chimney...
but no fan.
The studs are fine. There was no insulation. (front of house is stone masonry ---studs are solid oak (now like concrete), not on center, and the sheathing between studs and rock front is fine...

the foundation wall, however, is crumbling. It appears at the moment that we wont' need to go all the way through the wall. They've dug out enough to replace the fixture and are going to fill in the hole with rock removed and mortar.


They got through enough of the stone from the inside to expose most of the line, and they're off now to pick up parts to replace the main supply valve; but that stone wall has ALWAYS had a water seepage problem. They assure me that it will stand for another 100 years, though. Heh.

Much as I love the house's character, I want to sell it before it just falls down around us.
Money-pit....
I love it, but yikes.

Thanks, guys, for your help and support.
The water supply line is now fixed....
new coupling, soldered copper pipes, re-built stone/mortar section around it,
and the total "damage" = $450.00

Turns out the darned thing would have exploded TODAY, and we'd have a flood. Serendipitous timing, eh?

This was using a neighbor who has his own handyman business, and his helper is another neighbor. .... Good to do business with neighbors; you know where they live, so they won't rip you off, and they know where you live, so they know your money is good.

All in all, not a bad day. If I'd called RotoRooter or ReddiRooter or any of the big chains, I'd have wound up with a dug up yard, 3 days of labor, and $3000 in costs.



Do business locally, guys!!!