Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast.

Today, I'm going to talk about discovering the holes in our knowledge. I guess that's a good way to put it. As you've probably figured out, a lot of my episode topics are predicated on my recent experiences. I mean, sure, some of the topics are things that I've always been concerned with, right, but recently, now that I've done this for coming up on two years in a couple months, it gets to be a little challenging to come up with a new topic every week, and so, yes, a lot of my topics now are things that I've experienced in the last week or so and lessons that I've learned from those experiences. So this week is no different. Now I'm going to talk about having a house and the knowledge that you need to be a good, successful, efficient homeowner, because I was thinking about this in the last few days and I realized how do you become an efficient homeowner, how do you become a good homeowner, right? I mean, nobody really grades you or tells you that you're good. Your home doesn't necessarily tell you that you're good, but there are ways to go about it that are, of course, better than others and, like anything else in this life, you become good at it when you've had experience with it. Let me explain a little bit more about our situation. Let me explain a little bit more about our situation Now.

We had what we thought was a fairly minor plumbing issue in our bathroom. We actually had two minor issues A while back. Our bathroom sink had clogged and, having lived in an apartment for, oh gosh, over two decades, we had watched people come in and out to fix bathroom clogs, sink clogs, bathtub clogs, right, so we felt pretty confident that we could watch some online videos. Bill said we needed a few different tools, which we went and bought some supplies and he proceeded to work on the parts under the sink and he was fairly successful at unclogging the sink. However, what we didn't expect was that the pipes well, like everything else in the house, the pipes are old and there was a slow, quiet leak. And so, yes, our bathroom sink was leaking. So we remedied that by putting a bucket in there and waited for the day when we were a little bit more flush with funds to call the plumber and fix our problem. But at least it wasn't clogged anymore more.

Now, most recently, the toilet had become what we thought was a clog, and again Bill thought about it. I had bought one of those super duper plungers. We tried that and I should explain that we have the toilet but in the tank. My parents, at some point years ago, had installed what's called a flush mate and what it does is really kind of turbo charges each flush. I don't think it uses more water, but it sends a lot of power through the flush. It sounds louder and it just goes whoosh really loud, puts a lot of power in it.

So, okay, I wasn't sure how the thing had gotten clogged, and it's a short jaunt from the bathroom out to the main sewer line. You might remember, if you're a regular listener, that our main sewer line had clogged right after we moved here, and that was a pretty pricey bill, thanks to the roots of the redwood tree. Okay, but it was getting to be a little inconvenient and just not workable. So I called the plumber, came last week he knows the house pretty well, he knows the plumbing at least and he brought in his snake, proceeded to put it down the toilet and he put it from the sewer line in the driveway and he wasn't successful. So he went out. He brought in a different snake, a slightly more extensive one, powerful, maybe thicker, put that in. It didn't work. He said he was going out to the truck, again determined, brought in a third snake, he took the toilet off the floor. Yes, he unscrewed the toilet off the floor. Yes, he unscrewed the toilet.

Now I'm not a germaphobe but I can tell you that I was pretty horrified at the whole scene. I had put some mats down that could be washed and I had put some towels around, but still kind of horrified owls around, but still kind of horrified. And he put the snake directly into the floor and he remarked that he wasn't really sure what was going on but it felt like whatever was clogged. Now hang in with me because it's not what it seems. He said that whatever the snake was going into, it seemed like it was mud and we all kind of pondered on that for a little bit.

He went out. I heard him go under the house. He had to shimmy down there for a while because he has to go from the other side, and I feel bad because he's told me how claustrophobic he is. But anyway, he shimmied on his belly, I guess, under the house until he got over to the bathroom side, and then he came out and he told me that, unfortunately, there was, yes, a broken pipe and, yes, the snake felt like it was going into mud. Because, well, it was going into mud. Not only was there a broken pipe, but the water that we had been flushing and using had been going into the area below the bathroom. So there was now a pond of such not that you'd want to keep fish down there, but there was a lot of water collected, and muck, shall I say. And yes, now it had gone into the wall, the exterior wall. So we have a much bigger problem on our hands, much more expensive problem on our hands. He didn't even get to the sink because, well, what's the point? Right, he's got a lot more extensive work to be done.

So, as I sit here feeling kind of grimy because we can't use the bathroom at all, which includes the shower. Luckily, we do have a second toilet in the back of the house which, gratefully, is not on the same sewer line as the front one. Be grateful for small favors, right? I started thinking about how would I have missed this? I mean, I've lived in the house for a long time give or take that middle part where I moved away but I didn't hear any dripping, I didn't hear any noises, I didn't smell anything. Really. I mean, I guess what I smelled was what I thought was coming from the sink area, but it wasn't overwhelming.

And while I feel like I let the house down, I know I already set myself up for a very expensive bill and I started thinking how does one come to be a good homeowner? How does one learn all the skills that one needs to learn, right? I mean, if you've listened to some of my previous episodes, you know that when we first moved here, my husband and I unintentionally and not really meaning to stay for sure for the long term after my mom had passed away, every day, every week, something else broke. Because, well, let's face it, the house was built in the 40s and there was a period of time as, as my parents aged, that the house really lacked regular maintenance. So it makes sense the combination of age and neglect, shall we say. Yeah, it's not a pretty combination for a house.

But I can't help but feeling that I somehow missed the signs. And I know now that I don't want to miss the signs anymore. I'd rather take care of things before they get too dire or too complicated. I mean, we're looking at at least a four-day job. Not only is the exterior wall involved, because, well, it's wet, but the foundation might also be involved after they scrape out all that hazardous muck. And you can't just throw that stuff in the trash, you have to take it to a hazardous waste area or disposal or something. So that's a heavy sigh.

My neighbors and I know that I learned a lot growing up watching my parents, but I somehow feel that I'm still not fully certified, capable, equipped, that's the word. I'm not really fully equipped to handle this, but I guess I'll just keep limping along the best I can. I mean, I think I've done pretty well with the garden and there are certain things that I can manage, I think. But the other area that does worry me is the garage, because I think every time it rains it smells worse in there, and I think that that means that there's some leak or some mold or some area that's getting too wet, right, except that now there's too much stuff in there, and well, that's a whole quagmire of a problem that I have to deal with.

But we do have the new air conditioning and heating unit, so that's a plus, right? Yeah, yeah, I mean, there's nothing like having your own home because of the security Is that the right word Security? But there's also the bills and worry um, because there's certain things that you just can't put off, like having a bathroom and, I'm sure, if there was something wrong with the kitchen. Well, if there's something wrong with the kitchen and like it broke off and floated down the street, I mean, or just wasn't working, I think I could manage better than not having a bathroom. I mean, okay, I could get a lot of takeout and I could just have a refrigerator for cold drinks and things and Bill's insulin in another room of the house, right, but not having a bathroom impacts a lot of different parts of your life, of different parts of your life. However, I have to remind myself that when the sewer line was clogged, we basically lived for almost a whole week without being able to run any of the sinks, the washing machine and, of course, the shower and flushing the toilets. I mean, we did, but we did it minimally and we certainly didn't take a shower or wash any clothes. Everything in here was pretty gamey.

I guess I should maybe go looking for, maybe go looking for home ownership for dummies. So how do you find out what to do? I mean, I've asked friends. I have some friends that are handy. You ask neighbors, right. You learn by osmosis. You learn by talking to other people. You learn by the example of problems other people have had around you, right? Yeah, but there's no real way to really learn about every example of the house or every problem that you're going to have. Still, you don't want anything to go on too long.

It's like car maintenance. You learn that if your car starts making a bad noise, you take it in right away, because if you don't, then that noise is going to become louder. That noise is going to become louder and that repair bill is going to get more expensive. And I guess it's the same way with a house If there's a drip, the drip is only going to get stronger or bigger. If there's a leak, it's going to leak more. If there's a leak, it's going to leak more. If there's a wet wall, it's going to get wetter. Yeah, if there's a gopher hole, there's going to be more gopher holes, yeah.

I'm glad to say, though, that my gophers, our gophers, if you will, decided that they were going to spend the spring somewhere else, and I'm hoping if they're only fall gophers or winter gophers that maybe they'll spring and summer in other parts of the neighborhood, and that's a good thing. Now I have seen and that's a good thing Now I have seen recent gopher holes up the street in neighbor's yards that are when I walk the dog, and these holes look fairly new. So it's possible that they decided to pick a yard that had more sun because they're trying to get warmer for spring. Right, I mean, that would make sense to me. Our yard has mostly shade, so if I was a gopher, I would want to enjoy the sun myself. So certain things have worked out better than I could have expected. Anyway, that's all I've got for today, expected. Anyway, that's all I've got for today, folks. Maybe now I'll try to go find some home repair videos to watch. Next week we'll tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me If you like this episode.

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