You know, just when we decide to make some upgrades to our house the rest of it starts falling apart.
Paul and I put the first half down this last weekend on an entire house worth of new flooring. Now that we have a baby I can't stand the idea of putting him down on the existing carpet. Between our cats and my aversion to vacuuming the old stuff was starting to look mighty shabby. So, we decided to get all new carpet for the bedrooms and basement, and new hard flooring for the main level and stairs. (I can't stand vacuuming stairs!)
We also decided that it was about time that we gave in and had a water softener installed. The last straw was when I tried to use the sprayer in the kitchen sink and all that came out was 2 sad little trickles. So, last Saturday we had the guys from Superior come out and put in a brand new unit for us to try for 30 days.
Of course now that we have started upgrading this place the gods of home improvement require a sacrifice...
Last night at around 3 am I was jarred from my sleep by the sound of the new water softener running through its bi-nightly cycle. Since it was so loud I decided that I had better get up and see if something was wrong. When I went in to see what was up I discovered that the storage area behind our unfinished laundry room had a layer of water soaking the cement floor. I got Paul out of bed and he shut off the valve that feeds the new softener so that it would not put anymore water on the floor. We then proceeded to go back to bed.
I got up this morning at 5:30 to feed the baby and get him ready for the day and figured that I had better call someone to come and look at it. I called Superior and they said that it sounded like the emptying runoff just needed to be adjusted and that they would send someone out as soon as possible. At around 9 am the technician that had installed the unit showed up. He took one look at it, got out his flashlight, and proceeded to show me that it was not the softener that was leaking, but instead it was the main water shut-off valve to the house. He then explained that he could tighten it, but it would only be a short term fix. So, a new valve will now cost us $150.
Since I was already going to be missing work to have one tech come out I figured that I would call the company that we have time our heating and cooling systems come out and get our heater all ready for winter. Ah, the folly...
At noon the second tech shows up and starts to tune the system and clean everything out. About 10 minutes into this operation he calls me in to show me that the part that starts the system are almost completely burned out. He says that the best way to avoid having the heater suddenly not start in the middle of winter is to go ahead and put a new one in now. So, a new ignitor for the heating system cost us another $150, plus $15 more for the new filter that he put in.
Okay, so I know that $300 isn't huge in the grand scheme of house repairs, but it has me completely on edge now. Every little noise that the house makes now has me thinking that somethings is preparing to break.
I think I need a drink...
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