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greenmanSo, this morning, Alyse looked out the door to the back deck and said "Uhm... Why is there a big pile of ice in the middle of the snow on the deck?"
So I went out to look. And this is what I found (look behind the cut for pictures)
So, first I went out on the deck and saw this...
And knew that it was going to just get worse. When I got down the deck stairs and around to the back of the deck, I found this...
At which point, I went and turned off the water at the outside spigot.
The problem is this. When we bought the house, one of the previous owners had added a second bathroom in the basement. Unfortunately, while it was a reasonable idea, whoever actually implemented the idea had the clue of a rotten carrot. When they built the bathroom, they covered the valve for the outside spigot. We've never been able to locate the actual valve, let alone turn it off for the winter. To keep the spigot from freezing and exploding, I've made a habit of making sure that the hose connected to the spigot is fairly strong and flexible, and just turning the hose off over the winter, to give the water someplace to expand to, in the hope that it would give the spigot some pressure relief in extreme cold.
For those who aren't aware, we've had about 30 cycles of freeze/thaw this winter. Sometime in the last few weeks, the valve on the end of the hose gave way, at least in part. And then we got our own waterfall through the planks of the deck.
Water bill is going to suck.
And just for a bit of perspective...
So I went out to look. And this is what I found (look behind the cut for pictures)
So, first I went out on the deck and saw this...
And knew that it was going to just get worse. When I got down the deck stairs and around to the back of the deck, I found this...
At which point, I went and turned off the water at the outside spigot.
The problem is this. When we bought the house, one of the previous owners had added a second bathroom in the basement. Unfortunately, while it was a reasonable idea, whoever actually implemented the idea had the clue of a rotten carrot. When they built the bathroom, they covered the valve for the outside spigot. We've never been able to locate the actual valve, let alone turn it off for the winter. To keep the spigot from freezing and exploding, I've made a habit of making sure that the hose connected to the spigot is fairly strong and flexible, and just turning the hose off over the winter, to give the water someplace to expand to, in the hope that it would give the spigot some pressure relief in extreme cold.
For those who aren't aware, we've had about 30 cycles of freeze/thaw this winter. Sometime in the last few weeks, the valve on the end of the hose gave way, at least in part. And then we got our own waterfall through the planks of the deck.
Water bill is going to suck.
And just for a bit of perspective...
