Plumber!

On Friday I had just finished rinsing a few dishes for the dishwasher when I noticed a puddle of water on the floor! I opened the cupboard and saw the drain pipe had come apart and when I touched it I could tell it was broken. Well, I had installed this drain when we had replaced the old enamel sink shortly after we bought the house 34 years ago (my god, how can it be that long!) and the black drain pipes had reached their half-life. I "could" do it myself, I have the required tools and talent but did I really want to? I have little problem getting down on the floor, it's the getting back up part that is the problem and the process would require many trips up and down and out to the workshop and hardware store. The fairly simple job would have left me in a semi-crippled state for a couple of days and wishing I had "farmed it out",

So, that's what I did. I called my plumber. It being a long weekend he could not make it until Tuesday unless I wanted to pay his emergency weekend and after hours rate (which I did not) so I simply started using the laundry room sink until he could get here. Tuesday arrived and the plumber showed up around noon. He advised replacing the whole mess of pipes instead of just the broken ones and I agreed. I also had him replace the ancient hot and cold water shut-offs as one of them was almost impossible to turn and I foresaw disaster in the future. Using the laundry sink I noticed the hot water tap was difficult to shut off completely so I had him replace the washers on those as well. I had originally estimated $150 and with the extra work the bill came to $250 ($200 labour and $50 parts). He was here for just under two hours so I consider that a very good deal.

So that was my (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend adventure!