Our old house had polybutylene pipes. If you’re not familiar, they are a plasty-crap invention from the 80s that have since become one of the biggest homeowner liabilities in the industry. Apparently, the chlorine in the water eats away at the pipes until they just burst.
Ours finally burst over our kitchen in the old house, flooding two floors. We ripped all the poly out and replaced it with copper, replaced all the sheetrock and then promptly moved!
Here’s some pics from that little joy:
When we moved, another of our criteria (in addition to sidewalks) was a house with copper pipes. Our current house has copper pipes on the inside, but a poly line running from the main to the house. One of my first orders of business when we moved in, was to get it replaced.
But, I never did.
I woke up this morning after CareerMom had left for a 6 a.m. aerobics class and heard the sound of running water through the pipes. Wondering where it could possibly be coming from since no one else was awake (and with a sense of pending doom in my chest), I slowly walked from bathroom to bathroom checking for a flowing toilet, or a running faucet that perhaps the kids left on. Nothing.
I checked the basement, fearing a foot of water and ruined collectibles…nothing.
I went outside to the faucet where the main line comes in…NIAGARA FALLS!
So, we’re unlucky in that our water main burst last night, but lucky in that there was zero damage to the inside of the house. I called and left CareerMom a message on her cell to pick up some water on her way home, and then I left a message with one of the plumbers who gave me an estimate for the work.
Hopefully, they’ll come right out, but I have my doubts. Could be a sucky coupla days around here.
UPDATE: Due to the hazard of digging and possibly hitting another utility line, we won’t be able to get it fixed till tomorrow. So, looks like showering at the gym; baths at grammas, and dining out! Oh, and begging the neighbors for water to flush the toilets.
Ah, deeeeep cleansing breaths. Happy happy joy joy thoughts.
Postulates & Pastimes 
Yikes… Thankfully it all stayed outside… The worst part will be the water bill, and the inconvenience….
Our local news guys were interviewing an Atlanta reporter this morning on the gas lines…
They were talking of “over an hour” waits… YIKES…
Are there “24 hour” stations, and are the lines that long all day and night, or is it mostly in the “prime-time” hours?
RE: I’m pretty sure I caught it soon after it burst. I did some digging, but never got down to the line. It’s about 6 feet down and I feel sorry for the guys who have to dig it out, but I feel even sorrier for my landscaping!
But yeah, gas is nutz! I got lucky this morning and was able to top off in less than ten minutes, but that’s only because everyone has already panicked this week and filled up either on Sunday or yesterday. Even the 24-hour places are a bust because as soon as they get a tanker in (that either holds 5,000 or 10,000 gallons) they are out within 8-10 hours, and they only bring regular unleaded. So even all the high-falutin’ car drivers are using the lower grade. It’s ridiculous.
And we have an election coming up for governor…not good for good old Republican Sonny Perdue!
Hey, watch it! My grandfather, Stanley Polybutylene Jr., invented the “plasty-crap” pipes of which you speak.
Okay, so he didn’t. But it would be kinda funny if there was a dude out there with the last name “Polybutylene.”
I feel your pain on the unexpected home repair woes. It’s constant around here.
RE: “Jr.” Polybutylene even huh? HA! Well, they replaced my old poly with a new plasty-crap invention and showed me the ironclad 30-year guarantee. I’m pretty sure Poly originally came with a 30-year guarantee too, but right now, copper is too darned expensive!
Poor Dobeman! It’s been a really rough month! Hope things are rectified quickly. (Don’t you love that word: rectified ?)
RE: Any word that starts with the letters “r” “e” “c” and “t” is OK in my book!
borrowing water to flush the toilets? Damn, I never thought of that….this is a catastrophe! Hope you can get it fixed tomorrow, good luck!!!
RE: Yeah, but I totally blamed it on the kids. Cuz, you know…we adults don’t do that kinda thing 🙂