Sunday, January 10, 2010

You Can't Teach an Old House New Tricks

My house that was built in 1854 has an attitude problem.

It started with the toilet on the main, and only, floor at the time. We had numerous people put a snake down the toilet, but had to eventually replace the sewer line. You would think that with a fancy new sewer line the toilet would always flush. It doesn't.

Two years ago we added a two story addition. We have two bathrooms upstairs. One is mine and one belongs to the kids. If you know Mathew, you understand why we don't share a bathroom. I have broken my toilet not once, but twice. The first time an actual chunk of ceramic broke off of the base. The second time it just started running and my fix-it guys couldn't fix it so we bought a new toilet.

Tonight we got hit twice by our grumpy old house.

The toilet on the main floor doesn't flush because part of the handle inside the tank corroded and can no longer hold the chain. In any other house this would not be a big deal because there would be two other toilets available. My house decided to take it one step further and stake claim to the one and only toilet that had given us the least amount of problems. The one in the kids' bathroom. Finn flushed the toilet and water came out of the bowl and onto the bathroom floor. Again, in most houses this would not be a huge deal. You'd mop the water, plunge the toilet and be able to sit down with a magazine in less than an hour.

But not at my house.

Mathew had to shut off the water to the toilet because it wouldn't stop pouring out of the bowl. He mopped up the water with all of the clean just-put-in-the-bathroom towels and then went downstairs. That's when he saw the water dripping from the ceiling. Isn't that lovely? Possibly new pipes AND drywall.

If you happen to drive past my house and see yellow snow, you'll know that the house has won.

2 comments:

drea :: dre of white stables said...

This post made me laugh, but not because of your toilet trouble. I liked the last line. I hope you get it all resolved soon. Our house was built in the 30s or something...I don't know...but there's always something falling apart so I feel for you there.

Leigh said...

Just make sure Finn knows NOT to eat the Yellow snow! Ha. You knew I would say that right?