Home Improvement

Home Improvement

It sounds like an episode of Tool Tim with Tim Allen. Then again, every home repair or improvement project I have ever worked on turns out to be like an episode of Home Improvement.

It starts simple enough, the toilet is leaking so some repair needs to take place. It was a small crack, so a little putty should fix it, right?  At least I thought I could get by for a short time with the putty until I could get to the home improvement store 30 miles away to buy a new toilet. I was wrong.

The putty did not hold. So, I had to pull the toilet. This is a simple, albeit gross, task usually. I go to take the toilet loose when I find that the valve is frozen shut. No problem, I will go out and shut it off at the meter. I have one of those “T”-shaped cut-off tools, two actually, so no problem. I go to the place I keep them and they are not there. So, off to the hardware store I do go.

$14 later, I start out to my meter which is in my backyard. As I walk, I find I am walking in water ankle deep. I think, “This can’t be good.” I make it to the meter and, low and behold, I can’t find the cut-off valve. The city had replaced my meter with one of those new radio frequency meters with gobs of wires. I decided rather than risk tearing up their meter, I would call them.

The city of Wharton is great about fast response to problems like this. In fact, I challenge you to find a better city when it comes to rapid response to public works problems. Shortly, a truck (did I tell you this is after 6 PM?) arrives with two city workers. They trudge through the water and show me the cut-off valve for the meter and cut it off for me. They also do a leak detection test and determine that the standing water is not from me, but from my neighbor’s house.

Back to the toilet I do go. I get the toilet pulled and cap off the valve so I can get the water back on. Here is the Tim Taylor part. The next day, water starts dripping from the light fixture in the kitchen. I know I am not exactly the sharpest tool in the tool box, but I am pretty sure I did not cause this.

I go up in the attic and find that my drip pan from my air conditioner is stopped up. I try to snake it out and find my snake isn’t long enough to fix it. Time will tell on how well my next plan to fix this works.

Please visit us at McClendon Enterprises