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What The Plumber Taught Me About My Kids

May 20, 2022

There was a leak.

It was intermittent.

I never could track it down.

This is why I hate working with water.

I enjoy home repairs. I’m not too terrible at them either. I’ve built walls that didn’t fall down. I’ve wired lights that went on and off successfully. I’ve even done tile and drywall. As I said, I enjoy it.

But, not water.

The problem is that if you do electrical wiring wrong when you flip the circuit breaker it sparks and then trips off. It’s hard to do it wrong. Well, it’s hard to do it wrong and not KNOW you did it wrong.

But, water isn’t like that. Water repairs can LOOK like they are successful and then three months later part of the ceiling falls in. I don’t mind paying a plumber to do the water repairs.

So, there was this intermittent leak coming from an upstairs bathroom into my son’s bedroom. I thought it might be the toilet, so I replaced the wax ring. Still leaked. Appeared to be the shower.

So, I called the plumber. He came today.

He didn’t fix the leak. But, he told ME how to fix the leak. See shower doesn’t leak. The heating vent next to it leaks. Why would a heating vent be leaking? And why intermittently?

Because if you take a shower and you don’t pull the shower curtain all the way to the wall, the water is going to splash on the wall and run down on to the floor. Right where the heating vent is located.

The plumber was able to replace a failed cartridge inside the faucet, so it wasn’t a total loss. And we had an exposed pipe that had a slow leak. He fixed that too. But, really it was the leaky shower that was the reason I was willing to pay him $180 to come make repairs.

So, my leak is fixed. I’ve talked to the kids that shower in that bathroom and explained the need to properly position the curtain. And eventually we’ll get a shower door.

But, until then, it was worth the money to have the plumber tell me how to correct my children.

Stay safe

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here

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