Due to the storm surge of beer?

:rant: So what took you so long to let us know!?!? :hair:


... and answer your damn :fone:

Maybe she was spending the time in Seattle??? :confused:

Nah. The only reason I cared where she was is because my primary job in life is to block that one. :cool:

Oh, fan-fucking-tastic!
 

The basement's flooding again. A large part of which kept me away from Pixie's yesterday.

And it's not the water heater, as we originally thought.It's leaking in under the stairs, which means we'll have to take out part of the landing in order to get at the entry area for the water.

We're now suspecting a burst pipe somewhere in the yard, and that means a fight with the local water lords.

So, WSSC had two different guy out in the front yard, looking with probes & metal detectors for about 6 hours, and never found the shut-off valve. They then brought in a crew with electrical equipment, hooked that up to the pipe to magnetize it, to help find it. Then a backhoe to start digging. there's a big hole in our yard, parts of the sidewalk are missing, I have no idea what time in the morning that crew gave up (I was asleep), and we still have water service (meaning they NEVER found the shut-off valve), and consequently water leaking into our basement.

They left no notice?

Do you have a sump pump or submersible pump to help keep the water seeping in from rising too much, GG?

We indeed have a sump pump; but this was totally unable to keep up with the inflow. To give it credit, the break in the pipe *probably* happened last year, when Verizon came by, installed FiOS to the neighborhood, and in so doing, knocked the cover off the box for the inflow shut-off valve. And cracked the box surrounding the valve. The sump pump kept water out of the basement that long; in fact, a couple of months ago, I noticed the back yard becoming a swamp from the outflow from the sump pump. But eventually, the entire basement ground became saturated, and the water started flowing intoour basement.

So, yesterday, WSSC was back, I think (I was at work) installed a new shut-off valve, and was able to cut off the flow, whether or not it was from the old valve or the potential new one, I don't know.

Then we called the original plumber company back, and they sent out a guy who had no idea that anyone had been out here already, and was utterly confused about what we wanted and needed done.

So, now the original plumber from the company that was here on Monday, is back, with a crew of two helping him. They've dug a huge new hole in our front yard, cut out the drywall, and drilled through the basement concrete in order to install a new pipe, and are installing that now.

We still do not have water, and probably will not untl sometime tomorrow when WSSC can come back, inspect the job the plumbing company has done, and assuming appoval, turn the water back on, and refill the holes.

But at least we have no water leaking into our basement, that is fairly dry, and the back yard swamp has dried to the point where at least four of the frogs that were living in the swamp have moved to the pond (which has a pond liner, so that's good. We like our frogs).

And the later addendum:
They ended up digging the trench right up to our basement wall, next to the porch concrete, cut yet another hole in the drywall, and punched through the cinder block wall in order to install the new pipe. They knocked off of work as of 1945; they'd been at it since about 0900. Resuming around noon today. Looks like the installation is about half done, but then there's the mandatory inspection by WSSC, and presumably only after that can they refill the holes. Possibly no water until Friday.

At least the frogs are okay. Bet you'll be glad when this is over! :yikes:

AFTER...this is all over, who pays for all this and the damage to you? :confused:

Today's update:
WSSC & plumbing people got their signals crossed; WSSC showed up a few minutes ago, before the plumber could come back and finish the job. WSSC therefore, failed the inspection as "unfinished", and specified what needed to be done to finish. WSSC guy sounded nearly panicked about the impending rain; to be fair, he's right, if it does start raining, anything in the trench is going to come into the house.
Nevertheless, I had to get on the phone to the plumbers and find out where the guy is, and what his timeline is.
He'll call us back when he's on the way.
Rain started at 1320. Didn't last long, nothing filled.
Plumber called back, they'll be here between 1600-1700.

And the photos. Let's start from outside.
As one approaches the sidewalk outside th house, the first thing seen is the sidewalk being blocked:


Then, the huge pile of dirt dug out by WSSC when they were looking for the shut-off valve:


And failing to find it, thanks to Verizon FiOS, they had to dig & install a new one:


Then the plumbers got to dig their own hole, resulting in a huge pile of dirt. Note in both "dirt" piles, the number and size of rocks:

Then the plumbers got to dig their own hole, resulting in a huge pile of dirt. Note in both "dirt" piles, the number and size of rocks:

And of course, WSSC & the plumbers both called Miss Utility, which duly marked the cables running though the yard. Except one:

But as far as I know, nobody complained about suddenly losing power or 'net, so, the trench continued right up to the basement wall:

Whereupon, the plumbers were able to install the new pipe, protected by a sheath: