House Update - Sewer Flood, Gas Leak, Backyard, Hardwoods Color

Whew, yesterday I went to Texas for the day.  Flew into Dallas then drove a couple hours, looked at a market, drove another hour and a half  back towards Dallas to look at another market then back to the airport.  Ate McDonalds in our lap at 2:30 for lunch.  One of those days.  But a good, productive day!  

Here are some updates on the house, mainly for my record!  

The great flood of 2017 on Friday, December 8th.  It was actually a sewer back up but it was just dirty water because no one has used sewer water in our house yet. The low point of our house for sewer is the powder room and that toilet had been removed so the hardwoods could be installed that day.  Doesn’t matter if the toilet was there or not, the pipe would have overflowed either way.  Friday night the plumber came out and stopped the flood.  The cleanout at the street was dry so clearly there was an issue between our house and the street.  

On Saturday morning they ripped out all of the affected hardwoods so the floor underneath could dry for a few days.  It was about $1,000 worth of materials plus labor to rip out and install back.  Thankfully the water didn’t get higher than the cabinets which sit off the floor 3/4” so the hardwoods can go under them.  



Monday, they tried to camera it but the line was too dirty so they knew where the issue was from that.  The dig it up this week and the pipe had been crushed.  Truly a plain ole construction issue and that stuff happens.  Lots of vehicles and construction equipment had run over that area which could have caused it or the pipe didn’t have proper compaction over it. Hard to tell.  So now they will replace that section of pipe next week. 




In other news, our backyard has cleaned right up with the dirt we brought in and some grading.  We are pleased with how it has turned out.  Oh and railing is up on the porch. 



The gas leak update - the hvac guy Ivan that ran the line found that source too.  Under the slate, concrete pad and masonry of course. The line had split open for some reason whether it was a certain load on it or just simply a failure above the line.  He repaired it and now the masonry and tile guys will have to come back to repair the hole.  Never easy!  But thankful this happened when it did due to the gas fumes.  





Hardwood stain choices.  Kevin and I met Mike (our flooring guy) over at the house on Tuesday to figure this out after staring at the deck for days.  Once you put poly over the stain, it looks like when you first put stain on the floor (like when it’s wet).   So it was important to not look at them after he tested them and dried. We had to look at them while they were wet.  This changed our mind so I’m glad he told us this.  



L to R - Provincial, 50/50 Provincial and Dark Walnut is on the right side of the Provincial sample, Dark Walnut, Early American, Special Walnut, Provincial 

We were between the right two - Special Walnut and Provincial.  

We decided on Special Walnut!

Another crazy day today and another one tomorrow. Then a day to recover before more chaos begins.  Fa la la la la!