Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Things that annoy me, Chapter 5

Plumbing. (yeah, yeah...insert "Joe Plumber" comment here. Anyone who willingly takes up that trade ought to have their head examined so I don't really give a shit what he thinks about anyone's tax plan...)

I hate plumbing. Mostly because I'm not good at it but also because the materials needed for it go against most of what I stand for. Not only is PVC worthless and seems to have a high affinity for shattering in places that are virtually impossible to access without tearing out floors and walls, but it is really nasty stuff from an environmental standpoint. And the chemicals used to clean and glue the fittings ought to be targeted by the ONDCP.

For the last two days I've been making regular trips into the crawlspace under my house trying to fix pipes that, despite my best efforts to drain them last year, apparently froze and broke. The process is agitating enough on account that I hate the materials in principal but it just adds salt to the wound everytime I think I've finally found and fixed all the leaks only to turn the water on and find water spraying from some new, practically-impossible-to-access-by-anyone-larger-than-a-six-year-old space under my house. I've even found shattered vertical pipes in this process. How in the hell a vertical pipe shatters after not having any water in it for a year is a mystery to me. My only assumption is that Karma is on the side of the propane company and is getting back at me for shutting the water off to the upstairs of my house so I didn't have to heat it last winter. Whatever the reason, I'm annoyed. I now have to commence wallowing in the muddy crawlspace looking for the next leak.

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