I'm doomed. I'm convinced that this is destined never to get fixed. What else can possibly go wrong?
So, I'm ready and waiting at 09:00 and amazingly, the guy appears in his souped-up van, ready to begin.
First thing is to turn off the water at the outside stop-tap, since the leak is almost certainly between the outside stop-tap and the inside one. Cue much grovelling with his arm stuck down into the pavement (sidewalk). Guess what: he can't shift it.
It seems that a few years ago when the pavements in our street were resurfaced a whole load of dirt was shovelled down the hole and it has seized the tap. That doesn't belong to me, only the water company (Thames Water) can fix it. So I phone them.
No, the leak is between the outside tap and the inside tap. No, turning off the inside tap won't help. No, he can't freeze the pipe without digging it up, and he won't dig it up without having it turned off. After all, if he goes through it, we'll have no means of stopping it.
Answer: either an "emergency" turn-off of the whole street until he fixes the leak (probably a whole day) which won't make me popular with the neighbours or a random crew turns up "within seven days". I really don't believe these people. So, seven days it is, which means they could turn up this afternoon or next Friday. Oh, well, at least it means I can do a bit of planning now.
I'm also having faint ideas of how I might work this episode into a story. Hmm. We'll see!
Penny
Comments
What a great (if rather cheeky) idea. = )
From what I've heard, Ian Fleming named the character of Goldfinger after an architect of the same name, because the former did not like the latter's plans and ideas...
You could be onto something here Penny. = D
Oh Yes, I always do that!
If someone really ticks me off, I enjoy dropping them into a storyline, then doing something nasty to them. I don't think I've posted one of "those" stories here, but then again, it's rather hard to get me all that upset in the first place. Someday, perhaps!
Wren
a small leak?
all this from a small leak under your sink? that doesn't sound right... to fix that you'd just need to remove the pipe, re-aply sealant and put it back on...
or maybe i misread your last post? i could've sworn you said it was just under your sink
Leak
No, it's under the concrete floor in the kitchen, where the supply from the main goes across from one side to the other. It is between the (company-owned) outside stop valve and the inside stop valve.
The floor has been dug up there previously, before we moved in 10 years ago. It looks like whoever did it didn't protect the pipe, so that the curing concrete patch reacted with the copper pipe and caused one or more pinholes over time.
Whatever. We're basically guessing at this time. There's a patch on the concrete floor under the tiles, and it gets damp from time to time. The only thing we know goes under there is the water main.
Under the sink (or anywhere else in the house, for that matter) is no problem. I'd probably fix it myself. But dealing with mains under a concrete floor is a little beyond my current powers. Ten years ago, before the Fibromyalgia took firm hold, maybe, but no longer.
Penny