“It is well” — This Old House, Day 6

Water is key to survival, and to any house that people are going to inhabit. The Old House has a unique situation where it is right on the sewer for Plainfield and Grand Rapids, but somehow missed the city water and is on a well, and that is new to me. This means there are three different tanks in the basement in three different rooms. One to pump the well and pressurize the system, one to “soften” the water with salt, and one to provide “whole house reverse-osmosis” water for drinking (“whole house” as it drives really one water faucet per sink in the main kitchen and bottom floor kitchenette.

The original pipes in the house are a combination of cast iron and galvanized steel, which makes the exposed pipes in the downstairs ceiling and storage rooms look like more of a steam ship’s engine room, than any house I’ve experienced thus far. Also, the theme of “old synthesized with new” is present in the plumbing like it is with the electricity. There are cast-iron historic bits intermingled with contemporary PVC bits, co-mingled with some ~70s spliced in water softeners and filters.

So our problem was (yes, resolved!) that the hot water specifically was not flowing at all into the main floor bathroom. So the sink and bathtub/shower were only getting a few drips of water flow.

So after a call and nice visit from the folks at Kellermeier Plumbing they were able to locate a “clogged cartridge” in the bath and in the sink. And now I know too that there is an access panel to the bath area in the adjacent room at the bottom of the closet on the shared wall! So if this happens again I have a shot at fixing it.

And in the continuing theme of “cool finds” the main/only bath in the house has some nice classic jets which can also be cleaned up and ready for use in a few weeks?

On the “selling the old house front” we reached a milestone there today as well by getting the pictures taken and ready for listing on Monday … so stay tuned there.

We’re also entering “Day 3” of the electrical rewiring which has increased in scope and complexity a few times already and is still facing some non-trivial challenges. More on that coming up …