Importance of going into every room in your house

[Eigenvector]

I recently discovered why it's important to go into your house and explore every room from time to time.

Upon opening the door into my basement for the first time in a long time I noticed a loud dripping noise. Wondering if it was coming from the washing machine that was cycling through its rinse cycle I perked my ears and located that it was coming from the basement.

Normally I am loathe to go into the basement, it's infested with spiders and I hate those yucky things. Anyway braving the basement I noticed that one of my newly repaired pipe joints was leaking like a sieve and the drip had overflowed the bucket I had placed under it some 2 months ago. Who knows how long it had been dripping, probably less than a day or so, but if I hadn't by chance heard the dripping sound I would have flooded the basement and spend about a gazillion extra dollars in water usage - it was the hot water line too!

I guess the lesson for me is to overcome my fear of spiders, clean the basement, and start exploring my house regularly.

[RicodJour]

Or learn to sweat copper joints that don't leak. :)

R

[basscadet75]

a) dehumidify the basement and the spiders won't like it down there anymore

b) hire an exterminator

I didn't like going down into my basement either, for the same reason. We had spiders, pillbugs and the worst, crickets. After doing both of the above, I rarely see bugs of any kind anymore. I still do, but it's on maybe 1 out of every 10 visits down there - and with my dehumidifier, that's now twice a day!

[Jim Redelfs]

I have a better idea: Check the stupid BUCKET you placed to catch drips more frequently than every TWO MONTHS!! Sheesh!

[Buck Turgidson]

I accidentally dropped some duct tape face up on my basement floor. Came back a week later and the strip was filled with bugs. Since that discovery, I've been leaving duct tape strips around the basement floor and it is amazing the bugs that they collect. Economical and completely non-toxic.

[Al Bundy]

"RicodJour" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Ouch Rico! :-)

[Eigenvector]

Exactly how would learning how to sweat copper joints help with galvanized pipe connections? Or maybe you've both never made mistakes before?

[Eigenvector]

I'm down there with a vacuum on the weekends sucking up spiderwebs and egg sacs, a little at a time. It gets creepy after a while, feel like those spiders are gonna gang up on me for killing them off.

The previous owner didn't seal the basement at all, lots of little holes and crevices to the outside world that need to be sealed up. That's the first task really, but I'm not sure the best way strategy to take since the basement needs to be remodeled anyway.

[Eigenvector]

Gee thanks, and how often should I check that bucket, every single day for the rest of my life? If it didn't leak the first day, the second day, the third day, after a certain point you have to assume it won't leak. Well I guess sometimes assumptions turn out to be wrong - so sue me!

[mrsgator88]

Make sure you get up on the roof too, you'll be surprised what you find up there sometimes.

S

[Eigenvector]

Hah, I wouldn't be surprised at all. The kids around the neighborhood always lose softballs, rubberballs, and frisbees in my yard. Probably find them in bulk up there too! Not to mention the copious quantities of fireworks that went off in the street in front of my house.

Hmm, maybe time to take a trip up there. Nice thing about it is that my house has a nice shallow slope to the roof - easy to traverse.

[RicodJour]

Mistake...? Not familiar with the word - could you use it in a sentence?

Listen, I clearly put a smiley face at the end of the learn to sweat copper comment. So lighten up, okay? If you can make fun or yourself, well, it's only fair that we get to make a little fun too.

As far as the type of pipe, that's really immaterial. In plumbing you either have 100% confidence in your joints or you shouldn't be doing plumbing. Sometimes I'm 100% confident that I'll be checking on _that_ particular joint daily until the water-torture-slow drip goes away. ;)

You also have it easy with the basement. Recently I had to clean out an alien infestation in a crawl space. I was wrapped and taped up like a NASA space suit, vacuuming decades of spider ancestry away, so I know exactly how you feel.

R

[Jim Redelfs]

Of course, I have... Some pretty lame ones, to be sure. Obviously, my reply (sheesh) was a little harsh.

Your suggestion to check all rooms regularly is good advice.

I had a REAL phobia about bugs. Then I got a job with the phone company that regularly finds me in cellars and crawl spaces. I decided to "tough it out". The first time I went "in there" I simply shouted "Aw, right! I'm COMING IN!!" I don't think the bugs paid any attention but, after all these years, I have never encountered anything threatening or been badly bitten.

I suggest that you purchase a gallon jug of home bug killer at the hardware store. It comes with its own sprayer. Sprayed generously around baseboards, into crevices and all around the perimeter of your basement, and done every other month or so, your bug problem will be GONE. That stuff works GREAT! Do NOT worry about any toxic effect on YOU as the chemical "concentration" is low enough that, unless you DRINK it or bathe in it, you're OK. It doesn't take much of the stuff to kill the bugs. Take back your house! Good luck!

[delphiprog]

It's not the spiders that bother me as much as the centipedes. Damn things freak me out because they're fast and weird looking. Plus they can get huge. They're always hiding under or behind something. I, too, often feel like one day they're going to make me pay for killing off their friends. ;-)

Bugs never bothered me when I was a kid. I'm not sure what has changed in the last 20 years.

Doug

[mmmmm]

You should have checked it twice every hour 24/7.

[Curly Sue]

Get a water alarm.

It probably is a good idea to check out the basement on a regular basis but a water alarm will tell you immediately if the leak is still active. They are very cheap, $10-20.

Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

[Sev]

In my previous house, there was a metal roof on one small section, with built in gutter/ downspout. Although it was pretty high up, the kids would frequently manage to lodge balls in the mouth of that downspout, causing the roof to collect an impressive amount- maybe 100 gals- of water if I didn't notice. Fun to watch when I lifted the ball out. Kids. I find it necessary to check out my entire house on returning home if I've been out for a while. The things they do never ceases to amaze me.

[Kyle]

I am so amused by the solidarity Eigenvector is experiencing from the "I HATE bugs" sector of this newsgroup! Who knew arachnophobia was so prevalent?

Which reminds me, don't watch that movie if you already have a problem going down your basement...

Your experience, Eigenvector, is a reminder to all of us that homes are changing environments and we need to be aware of what is going on in them and check for potential problems on a regular basis.

[Curly Sue]

Do they ever change for the *better* by themselves? ;>

Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

[jerry_maple]

And souls. I believe it was George Carlin that described the religion of Frisbeetarianism - the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there.

Jerry