We recently had our basement, i.e. "The Beast," redone. By redone I mean the ancient stone walls got power-washed, re-coated with new mortar and waterproof paint, and the floor poured with a couple of inches of smooth concrete. Now that it looks so much better and is sooo much cleaner and mold-free, I can store things down there, and I plan on using part of it for a hobby area.
With the walls neatly painted, the narrow streams of water running downward were very obvious to the naked eye. Where'd that come from, I said to myself? When I looked up-there was the culprit, plain as day. The old, galvanized pipes were full of pin holes from corrosion, and were leaking. Never noticed it when the stone walls were weeping mortar and covered with God knows what kind of microbial inhabitants.
It appears that the affected pipes go from the basement straight up to the second floor bathroom, which was remodeled three years ago with new commode, vanity and whirlpool tub. And to top it off, the pipes run underneath the fixtures and porcelain tile floor.
Well, at least we found this out before the Memorial Day three-day weekend, when we'll have some extra time on our hands. What else would we do with three long-awaited, hard-earned spring days?
