Hornblower's handy hints

I was just getting ready to post some pictures of the laundry room renovation - a very boring renovation, like most of our current renos. The thing is, we're not making anything great, we're just making things look normal. So, it's not really anything you can look at and say 'wow, you've done something really nice!'. It's more that you look at it and say 'what? That looks normal.' Yes, it's only because the previous state of affairs was so appallingly hideous that the work we do starts to look good.

Like the laundry, which previously resided in the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Now, in the condo, we had our laundry facilities just off the kitchen and it was handy. But here's the thing - the space it was in, was actually meant for it. The space was adequate for the machines, and there was (and this is important) a door. Yes. A door.

Which, you may have guessed by the stress I'm placing on it now, is what the laundry facilities here lacked. Yup. They rammed a washer and dryer into a too small a place, and shrugged their shoulders about the fact that you couldn't put a door on it because they stick out 3 inches into the hallway. And they left it like that.

So that standing in my kitchen, leaning on the counter while chatting, you could look at my laundry center, including the knickers hanging to dry on a hook because when I put them in the dryer they get all staticy and then too friendly.

We considered what to do about this, pondered taking another foot out of Hugo's room to make the laundry center deep enough for a door, considered the general lack of closet space upstairs, and decided to move it downstairs.

A bit of a snag - the sewer outflow pipe is fairly high so putting in bathrooms/kitchens/laundry facilities in the basement is tricky. Eventually, when we put in a bathroom & rough-in a kitchen, we'll need a central pump to move the 'effluent' up to the pipe, but for the laundry, we can get by with a small pump. Roo investigated it all, planned it all, got all his gear and purchased an obscenely expensive amount of copper pipe (have you seen the price of copper these days?). Last weekend, it was all done. We've been watching this pump, making sure it's all working fine and everything seemed OK.

And then today, a small disaster - but not the pump. A completely unexpected leak from the cold water pipe. Argh. Much water. Much mess. Ick.

And now, Hornblower's hints:

-make sure you know where the main shut offs for water (and gas) are

-keep piles of old towels handy at all times

-don't panic

-cuff up your pants

-put on flip flops

-start mopping up: drop the towels on the carpets and dance on them

-even though you have no water and you can't wash anything, you can use the washing machine to spin the water out of the towels

-after you've done this a whole bunch of times, put about half the towels in the dryer & keep working with the damp towels

-when the dryer towels are done, use them to mop up the rest of the water, & now dry the damp towels

-take frequent breaks for chocolate or beverages of your choice (remember you have no water so you have to drink the stuff out of the bottles, even the ones in the liquor cabinet)

-when you go to the workroom, which you've left for last because it has a stone floor and a drain in it, and you figured it was less important than the carpeted areas, and you're mopping behind the furnace and the hot water tank and you sweep out a mouse trap with a mouse in it, then it's absolutely OK to just throw your mop down and swear and leave the room and refuse to come back

-just open up all the windows, turn on some fans, and hide upstairs

I have no water. I can't leave because all the windows and doors downstairs are open to try and prevent a mould infestation. I have a dead mouse lying in a puddle in the workroom.

And how is your Monday?

Tags: home renovations, plumbing leaks, Hornblower