Slab leak repair

Little did I realize that I was being prophetic when my last thought on the last blog post was that it was probably going to be a long week.  It was a loooooong week. 

The pictures show some stages of the work they did, including the trail in the front door and into that bedroom.  They covered the wood and tile floor, so that they could take all the old cement and dirt out that they dug out, and then they put it down again when they got ready to put all the dirt back and re-cement.  I had 5 gallon buckets of dirt lined up along my driveway all week waiting to go back into that hole in the bedroom floor.  I didn't take any pictures when it was a deep hole.  And I didn't take any pictures of the holes outside.  So this is just the inside hole when it had been filled back in, getting ready to cement it, and then the new cement in the hole.  In both those pictures you can see the carpet and carpet pad pulled back out of the way.

They actually finished repairing the leaky pipes on Tuesday evening, so we all thought they would be through on Wednesday after the City inspected it.  But due to some sort of snafu (with nobody claiming responsibility), the City inspector never showed up on Wednesday!  So they rescheduled and he showed up about noon on Thursday.  That means they didn't get everything filled back in and fixed on Thursday and had to come back on Friday and finish.   Not only did I take Monday off work, I didn't get in to work until between 9:00 - 10:00 am every morning the rest of the week, due to having to wait and let the workers in to the house every morning.  Considering I usually get to work at 6:00 am, it was a badly disrupted week.   And that doesn't even count that the cats had to be shut in the master bedroom all week with food and a cat box.  

I suppose I should be counting my blessings.  They in fact did NOT have to destroy my bathroom floor to reach that back leak.  They also didn't break any post-tension cables in my foundation when they jack-hammered through.  The piece of rebar you see in the picture, they just placed in there to help hold the new cement.  The post-tension cable runs below it and perpendicular to it.  However, they did go "overtime" though, taking longer to get done than the estimate they supplied me with.  So of course "overtime" is billed at an hourly rate and the grand total was significantly more than the estimate.  Funny how that always happens, isn't it?  No, no, of course I'm not cynical when it comes to anything construction-related.  Just because I've NEVER seen a construction-type job done on schedule, doesn't make me cynical.  

*sigh*  Just the way the world works, I guess.  Now I'm down to the last stage - getting the damage to the walls and ceilings caused by the foundation issues repaired.  I'm kind of hoping I can be finished with this by the end of the year.

The last week or so I've begun seeing birds other than the sparrows and doves at my feeders.   The weather took a cold turn, so I guess it's time.  The juncos are back.  Thursday morning when I was here waiting on the plumbing guys, there was a small blue-gray parakeet (budgie) out there!  I haven't seen him since, but he must have escaped from someone, or they decided they didn't want him and let him go.  Poor thing.  It's pretty cold for him, and it's not like he's camouflaged, or used to fending for himself in the wild, so I don't suppose he stands much chance out there.

We're supposed to have freezing precipitation tonight and tomorrow morning.  I'm hoping we run true to form.  Usually when they forecast it like this, it doesn't happen.  It comes when we're not expecting it.  So I'm hoping since they forecast it, it won't really happen.  I had such a broken up week last week, I'd kind of like to get to work tomorrow.    I pulled all my aloe vera up against the house and covered them.  It's supposed to freeze every night until around Wednesday, so I hope they stay warm enough in this protected area.  I know the doves have been hanging out in this area, all puffed up against the cold.

Looks like I didn't knock on wood quite fast enough about the INH.  I've begun having some abdominal pain, which is most likely due to that drug.  Luckily it's not too severe.  Kind of like an ulcer pain, it feels best right after I've eaten, which is a problem since, besides watching my food intake these days, INH is supposed to be taken on an empty stomach.  Too bad about that.  It's going to be taken with food.  And I'm going to have to find a happy medium between keeping my belly full of food and feeling unacceptable pain.   

Anyway, that's it for this post.  Later.