Lets try this again..

Having justified my emergency turn off by Groundskeeper Willie I was quite surprised by the deluge when I sawzalled the galvanized pipe just before the problematic valve.

I had already scheduled the "turn on" for after the valve replacement ( you can see the new valve with the hammer drill a couple posts ago) for the following Friday. The same middle-aged valve that let me down in the house, also was now letting me down on the city end of things. A deluge of water was disappearing into a mysterious place below my slab. Fortunately, after 20 minutes of pouring water, and kind conversations with Willie's partner in this business, we hit a sweet spot and the water stopped.

I will plumb the house with PEX - a plastic tubing. This will eliminate the galvanized pipe in the house - here is a cross-section of the half-century old plumbing. Check out the iron stalagtites.

Groundskeeper Willie was here...

So I'm messin' with the 50 Year Old valve that seperates the utility water from the house water. OK, it is Sunday, I've had a beer and am tired of "the Great Escape" going on between the Kitchen and the 'alf Bath. So, that valve pretty much decides that it will not. Sunday is the key problem here. It cost me $176.00 to have a AWWU employee come out to still the Chinese water torture that is drip - drip - driping out of the violated valve... The guy that came out to turn the key box had a scottish brouge and the cuss stream to make me think of:

Hammer - DRILL time..

Another confirmation of my tool fetish...the Bosch Hammer Drill - not as sexy as the walk-behind concrete saw, but way more portable. Used this German beast to cut a new hole in the floor of the existing bathroom. My father pointed out that the feng-sui wasn't right with the current commode-basin- tub arrangement. I have made moves to make it right.

Dig it?

A view from the underworld... Well, from the commode end of the 23 foot trench to the existing DVW (drain vent waste) pipe. Think 1/4" slope per foot of travel, you can see the target from here. Hellish as this trench was to dig, it is hardly the underworld. The goal of this trench is to add a half-bath and give the new laundry room a place to drain.