First Bungalow Guests

Tonight, we have our friends Mark and Tina coming to stay with us for a few days. They are our first official guests!

The good news is that the house doesn't smell like we had a flood. My Uncle Joe lent us his dehumidifier, and we think it's really helped. Just in case, we bought 4 gallons of bleach to scrub the basement with, so that should emit a nice smell for them... but it's better than a mold smell and we need to clean up any bacteria the city of Chicago graced us with. We made the smart choice of stocking up on over a case of wine, that way, they'll never even notice any smell.

Last night Mike started the task of sawing holes in the subfloor to locate the drain giving us trouble. More good news... we have yet to find any water damage. We think we know the route the water took, so we should just be able to remove that portion of the floor until we're ready for total demolition. We'll post some pictures soon.

Crapola

Got a new tune in my head.... I fought the water and the water won.... I fought the water and the.... water won.

Blah.

After the last post, Michael went back to HD 3 more times. The auto switch for the pump didn't work out, and they didn't have anything else that would work. We did go ahead and rig up a system we thought would work, I'm not posting it here since it "may" officially be a no-no... and we monitored the situation for about 2 1/2 hours. It seemed like it was working fine, and my idea was to take a nap for ONLY 45 minutes then check it again. So, I set the alarm for 45 min, came down, and there was water everywhere. We're now back on shifts. I still proclaim the fact that if either one of us was down here, we wouldn't have noticed until it was too late, since the water came from a totally different part of the basement. We would have still been in the laundry room, thinking we were fine. But, we're not fine, and again, I'm up at 1:30. And, I guess this one is kind of my fault. Again, blah.

One cool thing, Mike did build a new route to get the sump water to bypass the cracked drainage tile. It's temporary, but a lot better than what we were dealing with before.

And, the rain has officially changed to snow, so things may be looking up for us.

Space Madness (2008... Go Away!!!)

I title this post Space Madness, because I'm reminded of the Ren and Stimpy episode, where Ren has completely lost his mind while in space. Stimpy comes across Ren, who's posting his captain's log about his time in their space ship (of course, since it's the future, the log is being sucked from his brain). Anyway, I come downstairs to see Michael still awake, and writing a 14 page log, each page filled top to bottom, monitoring our water situation at 5:30 am. Oh wait, let me backup...

I believe I last posted on Tuesday. By Tuesday night I had come down with the flu. It was not fun. Michael had an after work party, and I had to call him to come home and bring me medicine. Since I was so sick and achy, I couldn't sleep, it was just a lot of moaning and groaning, not the good kind either, and a lot of stomach pain. However, around 2 am, Michael woke up, sat straight up in bed, and made a bee line to the bathroom. Seems we both have the flu. Drat.

Anyway, this continued to Thursday, Xmas morning. I was still sick, but Mike was actually feeling better. (He was feeling so much better, that he installed the Watchdog sump backup system. Of course, I slept through the whole thing. I really would have helped... Really...) But, I knew I couldn't make it to his mom's for Xmas, I felt terrible for missing it, but would have felt more terrible had I infected everyone.

So, Mike's leaving to go to her house, when he comes back in 20 minutes later. It seems, when he drove me to Firestone to retrieve my car after they replaced my flat tire, on his way driving home, he got a flat tire. So, his car is stuck in the garage, without any room to fix the flat. And it's a complete sheet of ice in the driveway, so he can't fix it there. Drat. He'll have to use my car. Oh, did I mention my car was in the street stuck in the ice and snow? Yea... So, after he was gone for about 45 minutes, I thought it odd since he said he'd be right back. I look outside, and see him shoveling. I get dressed, go out, and help him get out of the space. it seems all is right in the world again. Ha.

Friday we get up, I'm feeling remarkably better, and the chimney guys come bright and early at 9am. It's not such good news. We need a new liner, they show us a video where the whole chimney is collapsing upon itself, and I'm ready to throw up. Well, also, they tell us we need to rebuild both chimney's top 5 layers, since the bricks are worn away, and moisture is getting in. I'm not even writing down that quote...

So, now, after my minor meltdown, we're getting ready for his Dad to come over to celebrate Xmas. We were going to show him, his wife Kim, and her kids the house, and then go out for dinner. Meanwhile, it has gone from freezing to about 50 degrees outside, and since we have about 1 1/2 feet of snow on the ground, roof, etc, that can't bode well. As we're giving them the tour around 5pm, we get to the basement, where we see the storm drain overflowing. I've mentioned this drain in the past. It's saved our asses before, and is not being nice to us now. We then called our insurance guy, to add flood coverage before something happens, but we're told there's a freeze in Illinois, and we can't add anything for at least a week. Also, it seems Albany park is in the news again, flooding. Shocking! So, Mike tried a bunch of different things, and finally we decided we can't leave, and off he headed to home depot. As much as we NEED home depot, I have grown to hate that place. Anyways, we order takeout, and while he's at HD, I went to Michael's FAVORITE place in the world, Smoque BBQ, to get takeout for everyone. Seems we're having dinner at home. Well, Mike came back with a pump, and started by pumping the water from the drain into the sump pit. Yea, not working. Still coming in. Ok, where the hell can we put the water where it won't come back? That's easy, in the alley. Sure, it's not legal, but what the heck do you do in this situation?

Anyways,the water level is dropping, however, once the pump is turned off, the water comes back in. Oh, and it has started to rain. According to Michael's log, that started around 2:13. He's turning into Mr. Skilling, he's tracking the lightning and thunder too. I told you, space madness...

Anyways, I went to bed at about 1:30, I told him to wake me in an hour, we were going to do shifts, but he stayed up. During his SM time, he kept a log of everything that he had done, and what was happening with the water. He made some trenches outside in the ice, all around the house, so the water would funnel into the storm drain. Oh, he also found the storm drain under all the snow had searched for previously, and shoveled that out for the water to flow into. (Log time 2:49am)

So, when I woke up at 5:30, I couldn't believe he was still down here. I told him to go to bed, and now I'm sitting in the basement, on the stairs, monitoring the situation. The rain just stopped, but according to the forecast, not for long. In the past 1/2 hour, the pump actually started running dry (per the log, this hasn't happened in 3 1/2 hours) so I turned it off, and I'm keeping an eye on the water level. I'm not sure if he expects me to keep this log every minute, but I'm not. I don't want to get the SPACE MADNESS!!!

Update at 11:25am. Now it's pouring, and it's getting worse. Yikes. Mike just left to get another pump from home depot. We talked to our 2 neighbors, next door is ok, but the house next to them is badly flooded. This poor older couple is bailing buckets of water every 30 seconds. Mike is getting them a pump too. And, the rain isn't letting up... We think 2 pumps should handle the upcoming storm (we hope)! At least the drain is close to the sump pit, and I'm just sweeping the water into it. Seems to help. We're at least at a steady level now.





Update 3pm:
That Edwin Starr song keep going through my head.... Water... huuh .. What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing! Say it again!

That is how that song goes, right? Well, Mike came back with the pump, and it was dead. LOL. So, he went back and got another one, after fighting to exchange it. Now, we have 2 pumps running, and it's still backing up. So, guess where Mike just went off to? Yep. HD. I need to buy stock in that place.

So, now, we're getting an automatic switch to turn on and off the more powerful pump, so we don't have to be up all night again. Oh, also, he's going to rebuild the sump pump line, to bypass the cracked drainage tile. We'll basically have to dance the limbo if we want to use the back stairs, but, oh well. Oh, he's also stopping to get some ice cream, because, well, dammit - we need some ice cream...

Tonight we had plans to go to Everest with all our cousins. It was going to be a wonderful dinner, with wonderful company. Instead, we've basically spent the equivalent, if not more, on the latest bungalow adventure. Bummer.

Project #29

Last night, we picked up my car from Firestone. Other than the 2 new tires, it's basically in the same shape as when I brought it in. They may have made the steering wheel a little worse, but they swear the car is aligned straight. I'm tired of fighting, so I'm letting it be. At least the window is in, and the door locks work.

After that, we stopped over at the Home Depot since we found our 10% coupon. We bought the Watchdog Sump Pump backup system. I have no idea when we're going to attempt this install, but it's going to be pretty soon. Once it warms up, there is going to be a ton of water, with all this melted snow. Speaking of which, there's currently a blizzard outside. Since Michael is working late, I may attempt using the snow blower myself.

So, I'm going to have to assume the Chimney guys are going to cancel today. It's pretty windy, and I can't see them climbing on the roof in this weather. Oh, and besides, the chimney cap is currently frozen to the sidewalk. Michael told me to put it in the garage weeks ago, before the snow, but did I listen? Nope. I figured, hell - the thing sits outside when it's on the roof, why put it inside now? Yea, I should have listened...

Fun with cars

We have made the determination that my car does not like attending any Jewish Holiday events at Aunt Hazel's. First, came the flat tire on the way to Passover a couple of years ago. That was a bummer, but I missed the portion of the four questions, and I was very very sad about that.

Now, the flat tire on the way from the Hanukkah party. In a snow storm. We were able to limp it to a gas station, fill it up, and all seemed happy in the world. Until this morning, when we went to snow blow the driveway, and came upon the flat tire again.

So, poor Michael had to change to the spare in the actual temperature of -6. Well, -25 if you include the windchill, but -6 sounds bad enough.

Get to Firestone, order the 2 tires, and I ask them to throw in an alignment. They tell us it will take 2 hours, so we decide to be brave and walk over to the Abbey Pub for some lunch and bloody mary's. That was the longest 3 block walk of my life. Freaking freezing outside. After some lunch, we walk back and it's been 2 hours.

The car isn't done. This is where the trouble started... turns out, they did 2 alignments, and the car still won't drive straight. They assure us it's straight, but it's still pulling, so we're watching them stand around the car, literally scratching their heads. Another 2 hours later, they're still working on it. At this point, I'm ready to tell them to forget it, give me a refund, and we'll go. We've been here for 4 hours, I'm tired, and my entire afternoon of watching Battlestar Galactica and eating chili has been ruined.

So, we're standing by the glass door, waiting to tell them the news, when the guy comes out to inform us the drivers side window has just fallen out. Yep, fell OUT. It didn't break (pfew), but they're trying to get it back in. That took another 45 minutes.

The manager tells us we're done, the others in the waiting room actually cheer for us, and we're off. We pull out and the car is PULLING to the right (previously, it had been slightly misaligned to the left). I mean, you let go of the steering wheel, and it veers hard to the right. No way can this be safe, so we turn around and go back.

The manager tells us he'd like his other mechanic to look at it tomorrow. Can we bring it back? Well, let's just go home, grab another car, and leave it tonight. Ok - he agreed, and promised to stay there to wait for us.

Upon getting into the car, Mike opens the drivers side door, and tries to unlock the auto lock on the door. Nope. Doesn't work now. Sigh.....................

Well, the car is now in the garage, we're happily home, but I'm afraid what will await me tomorrow.

The Black Olive

Sid got a new nickname last night. He always sleeps next to our "green olive" pillow, so now he's black olive. Sorry, couldn't resist the post, he's cute.

And I thought this one was cute too. Here's black olive keeping me company while I work...

And AGAIN!!!

All night long, we listened to the sound of the valve on the sump pump. Shooop... blickity blickity blooop kathunk. Over and over. And over. About every few minutes.

We seem to have a problem. Well, several actually.

1. The valve is busted. It's still sort of working, but by the sound of it, it's getting worse.

2. We have a swimming pool on the side of our house. Maybe that would be a good thing in the summer, but when it's -10, not so much.

The pipe where the sump pump drains into on the outside of the house seems to be clogged. Or busted. Or broken. The water was gushing everywhere.















First order of business was to replace the valve. I anticipated for this to be a major hassle, which would result in water everywhere, but of course Michael knew what he was doing, and task 1 was accomplished quite quickly.




The other problem, you know, the Sunnyside pond, wasn't as easy.




















Because it was SO darn cold out, the water was freezing pretty instantly. It was overflowing out of the pipe, gushing in the front, going under the fence, gushing in the back, and we had ice everywhere. But, I was more worried about water everywhere in the basement. We decided if we built a trench, all the water would flow into it, seep into the ground, and that would easily buy us some time to figure out how to fix the problem. Well, here's the trench, and I have to say, it wasn't draining anywhere. Mike got a nice workout though!



I'm sure you can guess the next thing we did. www.angieslist.com

Big Mike's Sewer and Plumbing. You gotta love a place that's called Big Mike's. They have an A rating, so we gave them a call. Mike is the bomb. He's the best. He showed up within a couple hours, rooted out the pipe, and was reasonably priced.

Of course, we seem to have a bigger problem, something about a cracked pipe, or something. When he was talking about the "bigger problem", I kind of went to my happy place, so I wasn't quite listening. Sounds like we have a couple options, nothing urgent right now. We'll call them back in the spring for them to take some pictures.

Yep.

Here we go again

Ahhh, the Happy Bungalow in the snow. How pretty.

But what's this on the ground?? Hmmm.


I look up and see this -


Mean bungalow, spitting the chimney cap onto the ground. The question is... did the wind do it, or do we have a new pet?

So, I've started calling around Chimney places I've found on Angies List. I found one I liked, but they can't come out until 12/22. Oh well. And, I'm still waiting for Mike to post about this exact same Chimney, and what we found inside of it. Although, if the chimney cap was loose this whole time, that would explain it. Come on Michael! We're all waiting!!

So, we'll need to have the company do a cleaning, and I KNOW they are going to tell us we need a new liner. Good times...

Daley Craziness

Alert I just got to my email from the Chicago Trib:

"Rates for most city parking meters will increase to $1 an hour starting Jan. 1 as a result of Mayor Richard Daley's deal to lease the spots for $1.1 billion to a private firm.

Two-third of the city's meters now cost 25 cents an hour, but once the paperwork is finalized, any metered spot costing less than $1 per hour will increase to $1 next year, city officials said today. And by 2013, those same metered spots will cost $2 an hour, according to City Hall.

The most expensive meters, which are found in the Loop, cost $3 an hour now. They will increase to $3.50 an hour next year and $6.50 by 2013."

I was just commenting to Michael last week and questioning why, every time (ok, honestly, close to 60% of the time) I park at a meter, that meter doesn't work. Now it's not a biggie, I throw in a quarter, it doesn't work, I move my car, throw in another quarter. Yea, it's a pain, but less of a pain than fighting a ticket. But who the heck is going to have 4, let alone 8 quarters to park their car?! Seems a little nuts to me.