Why House, Why?!

Hit a setback (again) in my hobby journey.

The joys of home ownership, especially a 20+ year old house. This one is a doozy. The drain pipe in the crawl space under the kitchen decided to spring a leak. I didn’t notice this until I was outside my house and noticed water splashing sounds in the crawl space while someone was using the kitchen sink. I looked in the crawlspace vents and saw the stream. After some troubleshooting, it turns out to be the drain pipe. At least it wasn’t the water supply line.

Down the rabbit hole…

Do I pay a plumber to fix it? No. I am a DIYer. I like a challenge. Turns out crawl spaces are dark, cobweb infested, extremely short (around 36″ tall in height – thus “crawl space” moniker) and in my case, filled with standing water. Drain water. Dank drain water. At least it was not the toilet drain that burst, but it still smelled from the food and dishwater waste.

This was a week ago. I have been slowly removing the standing water, at first with a small wet-vacuum, then a submersible water pump, and now a transfer pump. And I still can’t reach the leak because I am too big to fit between the framing in the crawlspace.

Tomorrow’s attempt (April 16). Cut a new crawlspace access door in my carpet covered wood floors. Pump out the standing drain water before it stinks up the neighborhood. Then repair the pipe – fingers crossed it is just an old ABS pipe that is “simple” to replace. Then clean up the new access door and carpeting. Then go on with life.

Wish me luck.

I am still debating whether to tackle the Airfix WW2 German Paratroops 1/32 scale paint-up OR try my hand at scratch building some 1/32 scale WW2 terrain – maybe a French café a la Carentan? Should I finally record some of this for YouTube content? What do you think?

Happy crafting!