Soaking wet with three-day old pants

 

I am soaking wet and quite a bit dirty right now. And if truth be told, I have had the same pair of pants on for three days straight. Now that may seem a bit odd, but let me explain.

On Tuesday afternoon I got a call from a tenant. She was a little frantic because when she went to go make the baby a bottle, she noticed there was no water pressure on the cold side. That rental is on a well, so she went to see if the water filter that filters out the sediment needed to be replaced.

 

It was good, so she started checking other things around the house. Before long she realized that there was pressure on the hot water side of all fixtures but there was no cold water even to the toilets. That is when she called me.

 

That was a strange situation to say the least because the cold water feeds the water heater that then gets distributed to the house. So, if the cold water wasn’t working, then logically the hot water should not be working either. It was late in the day, but I headed out to the house to see if I could figure anything out.

 

When I pulled up to the property, I turned on the outside hose bid to see if we had water pressure there. Sure enough, it shot out cold clean well water at a great pressure. I then went inside to check the sinks and toilets to make sure the issue the tenant was seeing was still happening. It was — we had hot water but no cold water. Not even a drip.

 

I went back outside. This house was a mobile home, so I was able to pop off the under pinning right at the hose bib instead of having to crawl under the house from the crawl space door. Once the panel was removed, I could see the water main with ease. I did have to go under though, so I could trace the water pipes looking for what would stop the cold-water flow. I was thinking that there was some sort of ball valve underneath that had somehow got shut off. But I did not find one.

The water main came out of the ground, fed the hose bib, tee’d up to the water heater before feeding the rest of the cold water side of the house. Now I understood how water was getting to the water heater, but I still didn’t know why the cold water was not flowing.

All I knew was there must have been a blockage somewhere and we were going to have to cut the pipe to find it. And it was too late in the day to start that. So, I let the tenant know that I would be back the following day.

 

Day two in my pants: I decided since I was going to get dirty, I should just wear yesterday’s pants to save on laundry. I left the house, went by Home Depot for supplies and then to the rental. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for me to find the blockage.

 

I cut the pipe right after the water heater tee. And after I got over the shock of the cold water running down my arm and soaking into my pants, I could see what had happened. You see the reason we had put a filter on that well was we kept getting little giblets of a stone in the line that I thought was chert. Turns out it was not chert but aquifer limestone. Anyway, it had built up over time in the water pipe and had now stopped the thing up.

 

I had to cut a foot and half section of pipe out that was completely obstructed with the stuff. And once I made the repair, water was restored to the house. Or so I thought. With the new water pressure, any limestone pieces left in the line got pushed to all the valves in the house. I had to spend the rest of the day taking things loose and cleaning out the stones so the water could pass through. Finally, I achieved success and headed home well after dark.

Day three was not special. I got a call from a tenant saying they had a roof leak after the torrential downpour we had the previous night. And all I could think was that I needed to get there fast. So I threw those dirty pants back on and headed to the property. Thankfully it was an easy fix, even though I got sopping wet from the rain, and I was able to go home and put clean clothes on before lunch.

 

It is funny the things you take for granted.

 

Anyway, I just spent the last three days taking care of the people and the houses that take care of my family. They say successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. With that mindset, I guess I’m willing to wear dirty pants for three days to achieve financial freedom. What are you willing to do?

 

Joe and Ashley English buy houses and mobile homes in Northwest Georgia. For more information or to ask a question, go to www.cashflowwithjoe.com or call Joe at 678-986-6813.