I know that many of us, including myself, love to watch home makeover shows.  There is something about seeing these homes transformed from something barely livable or even mediocre, become AMAZING that keep us coming back for more.

I mean who hasn’t wanted Chip and Joanna Gaines  to come demo their house since they came onto the scene a few years ago?  I admit, though, that sometimes I find myself rolling my eyes when they find “a problem” after barely beginning the renovation.  Inevitably, they find an issue that always costs the homeowner thousands of extra dollars.  It just feels scripted as every single house has some ridiculous problem that suddenly turned up just when construction began.  Now, obviously this little irritation is not something that would keep me from tuning in, it’s just slightly…unbelievable.

As it turns out, we are preparing to embark on a basement finish in our home.  We haven’t even officially begun construction and we already have problems.  It started last week when we noticed our trees and plants out back were struggling to survive the heat.  Our landscaping is only a year old so losing these freshly planted beauties is not an option.  The landscaper spent several hours at our house on Tuesday to determine the cause.  After scouring the yard and digging up a lot of the irrigation he and my hubby came up with four possible scenarios:

4)  an animal chewed the irrigation hose

 

The landscaper promised to return after the 4th of July and we began soaking everything with the hose.  My handyman hubby decided to take matters into his own hands.  So, on the 4th of July as were preparing for a BBQ, he decided to turn the water off to the house for several hours to see if he could determine the problem.  As you can imagine, that went over very well and after much frustration he turned the water back on and announced that the pressure valves were not working correctly and he would fix them…

The landscaper returned on July 5th, as promised, with 10 additional workers to help solve the issue.  In under an hour they were able to locate the problem.  A tree root was, in fact, pinching the irrigation hose and limiting the water supply to the backyard.  They relocated the hose and VOILA!  We had water!

Interestingly enough, my hubby was still convinced that our pressure valves were not working properly so Thursday night he turned the water off again in order to fix them.  Another five hours later we have shiny new pressure valves…and hammering pipes.  After an hour we successfully resolved the pipe noise and went to bed.

On Friday morning we woke up to a leak in the basement.  I know what you are thinking, but this leak was nowhere near where my hubby had been working.  We followed the water only to find that our 15-year-old refrigerator/freezer had malfunctioned and was leaking water.  The leak had made its way through the wood floors and into the basement.  Somehow the thought of a new refrigerator was more palatable than a whole house plumbing issue.  We pulled the refrigerator out, put the tubes into a bucket to drain and the hubby promised to fix it later that night.  Meanwhile, I started the dishwasher and jumped in the shower.  Even in the shower I could hear the pipes hammering downstairs.  Apparently, we had not fixed the problem.

Friday evening, the hubby fixed the refrigerator (hopefully) and continued working on the pipes.  We made no headway.

Saturday morning we woke up to find water leaking from under the furnace, A/C, etc…we just can’t get a break.  Like everywhere it’s been HOT here and our AC has been working overtime.  It would seem that in an effort to cool the house, the coils froze.

What is our current status after 5 days?

Our refrigerator seems to be working and it does appear that we may need to resort to a licensed plumber rather than my handyman hubby in order to fix our hammering pipes.

Keep in mind that the actual construction has not even begun so I am slightly terrified about what will happen when we have five sub-contractors working in the basement.

So, what is the moral of this story?  I am a BELIEVER!  I will never again doubt Chip when he says they had no idea they needed a  whole new roof, HVAC system or electrical repairs. The reality is that our homes are being held together by the dirt, dust and residue of everyday living.  When we disrupt this delicate balance in any way, shape or form we can expect problems.

Chip, Joanna, I know you are quitting the show and you just had another baby, but if you’re reading this…WE NEED YOU!