Cross your fingers

Today I took the water leaks by surprise.... and I hope I have fixed two of them. Last night I broke, yes BROKE some thingumy in the toilet cistern so now it just keeps on - a - flowing. The tap has to be turned off at the wall and as soon as it was touched, it started leaking so we now have a bowl under the tap.... but that's a problem for another day. I have riveted and gummed up the leaky spouting. Getting a ladder up there was a job in itself but by pegging a board at the bottom to stop the ladder from slipping, I was able to scale the great heights and deal to the ruddy thing... of course now, we have no rain. One day I'm going to find out who that 'Murphy' bloke is and drop kick him into the nearest bottomless pit! (I also have plans for what I'm going to do to the old toilet cistern when it is replaced NEYA ha HA! [}]
I then decided I had nothing to loose by removing the spongey wood from around the base of the hot water cylinder and gumming that up too with some stuff called 'knead it' and epoxy arrangement rather like play dough in a stick form. it's 'kneaded' together so the two seperate colours mix and become one, then it's 'putty'd into place.

I had to crawl under the house for this particular job, dragging with me a tarpaulin, chisels, trouble lamp, wooden mallet, torch, brush and a stick to wind up the cobwebs. I also decided, rather wisely I felt, to take some goggles with me. It took a bit to chisel through the spongey chip board but I cleared an area big enough to see what I was doing and then played with my epoxy dough until it was mixed.
It went around the leaky join rather well I thought. I waited, I watched, I took the latex gloves I'd put on before playing with the dough, off and wiped the drips off the pipe. The water from the floor was dripping onto a lower pipe and from the silver paper stuff that lines under the floor.....the pipe stayed dry. I waited a bit longer before yelling out to Kim. I eventually shouted through the floor that I had some good news, some more good news and some bad news.
1] I think I've fixed it, 2] there are two floor joists on one side of the tank and one on the other so it's not going to go crashing through the soggy chipboard and rip out all the pipes. The bad news... I'm filthy! I've got bits of soggy chipboard in my shirt, my hair, in my ears and in spite of the goggles, in my eyes and I'm soaked into the bargain! My arms feel like lead weights from hammering and chewing away at the underside of the floor for ages.

I'm going to crawl under there in a couple of days and see if it's actually stopped leaking.... the epoxy dough has hardened as stated it would do in the instructions and now all we have to worry about... for the time being, is the toilet!
Ooooh I am so over leaking things.
I knew as soon as I messed with that cistern tap that it would start leaking.. it always does. The last time it was because I'd turned the water off at the mains to fix the pipe in the paddock. We couldn't find any way into the 'doings' of the tap body. I phoned my Dad who is quite the handy man but he was a bit pushed to explain things over the phone. In the end I kicked it in frustration and it stopped dripping! It wasn't a hard kick, just a tap really, (excuse the pun) but it got it's act together and stopped making a mess!

I'd never go for a chipboard floor again! Mutter mutter! Swollen bits mutter mutter.

I didn't have to empty out the cylinder though. This stuff works in water, around water and as long as the area is dirt free and grease free, it sets ok..... It takes 12 hours to 'go off' so I won't know about the spouting side of things until it rains.
Of course, a forward thinking person might have changed the blown light bulb while they were up there..... I was focussed on sorting out that nightmare of a cylinder and the dogs had decided to do a bit of roaming about the back yard after being shut inside for the high rise operation. The last time I was up there, the rotten bleeders got under the ladder just as I was about to put my weight onto it as I left the roof. They both let rip with that short sudden bark that dogs are well known for. The one that has you mentally and physically clinging to the ceiling.... I didn't have a ceiling, just a long way down. I'm sure they'd been plotting this from the time I got onto the roof.... clinging to anything and everything as I transfered my weight from the ladder to the roof. I suppose you could say they have a wicked sense of humour! [}]

Yakut

Good on you for even getting under the floor...I couldn't do it. Once I got all the gear on and tried....I got about two feet before I bottled and decided not to bother. I really admire people who can get into small spaces. I'm not claustrophobic at all until I try to get under the house when I fail to cope - big time []

Cheers
Kate

That's one good thing about this place. There's a small door to get under the house, a hands and knees deal. It's ok if you keep your head and bum down. The hot water cylinder is about half way down the house but as you go on further under, it gets lower and lower... and lower, until it's only a few inches from the ground. I've been as far as I've need to go to see the bathroom pipes and that was from a distance. It's not so much the space, more the thin cobwebs. They can send me into a sudden panic, at which point I usually try and get out at speed and whack my head and my bum, not to mention scraping my back on the joists.

I have yet to pluck up enough bottle to get into the roof but that is a whole different kettle of fish... possible unidentified rodent bodies and spiders and gods know what. To get to the bit I need to get to means travelling the whole length of the house without putting my foot through a ceiling tile, which I can't guarantee if I get spooked. It'll be everyone out, never mind the women and children.

Yakut

heh... cobwebs are simple... just burn them out, which also fixes the leaks problems since the new house the insurance springs for includes new taps

A better bet is take a badminton raquet up with you and brush them away. I've been up in several different roofs looking for problems over a few years as a student in cheap falling apart old flats.

Of many strange things I found was a complete pot growing lights setup in a cabinet with automated watering system riged from a dick smith hydrometer and solenoid operated tap. Some previous tenant must have been a rather swithed on gardener

Oh Yakut, theres always something isn't there? You will be a Jill of all trades soon. At least you get in there and give anything a go. I don't blame you with the spider webb thing, makes you wonder when you see one just how big the spider who made it is lol. I gotta admire your spunk and ability to have a go.

Most of the spiders under the house seem to be of the long spindley leg, tiny body variety. I don't mind them so much but it creeps me out getting them on my face.

I've discovered a few large bodied, hairy legged varieties in the garden which have caused a bit of disruption to my nervous system though.

I have an old bird cage perch which is just the ticket for removing the thin wispy cobwebs. I waved it in a circular motion, clockwise and anti clockwise so it gathers like candyfloss around the perch.
It's quite dark under the house. The bobwebs can be seen in the entrance way but after that they are invisible.

When I was a kid, my next door neighbours Dad had his garage set up like a real picture theatre. He had a real screen over the doors and a projection room at the back. We found a 'secret way in' under the seating, which was tiered. It was as black as pitch under there, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. I never once worried about creepy crawlies. Strange how your perception of things changes and how fears grow. Too many nature programmes watched on tv?

I know the cats go under the house and there was a definate cat pee smell coming from a little raised mound of dirt nearby. This was one reason I took the tarpaulin under with me. It also acted as a tool bag so when I was finished, all I had to do owas wriggle off the tarpaulin and then grab two corners and pull it out behind me. Everything I'd taken under was pulled out and I didn't have to return for lost tools. The down side was the water dripping onto it. This pooled and ran under my back. Lovely! It was very uncomforatble with wet chipboard fragments sticking to me, down my back and around my right shoulder. Nasty! It doesn't have have a sort of itchy sting to it.
At least the job is done.
I now wonder why it took me so long to come up with a solution. Doh!

Yakut