Further Old House Adventures

gas leaks, floods, and a refreshed cabinet

Anyone who likes old houses knows that they tend to offer some unpleasant surprises. Some more than others. The Big House in the Small City has, so far, come up with some doozies.

First, there was the morning the contractor walked in after no one had been there for a couple of days, and the whole place smelled of gas. Reeked, in fact.

He’d pulled the stove out the Friday before and shut off the gas. Turns out the shutoff didn’t work. And when the gas company came out to check, they found a total of seven leaks throughout the house. Thankfully, we had a great plumbing/heating guy who we’d worked with before, so he came quickly when he heard the gas was off and so was the heat. Snow was in the forecast.

He was there all day and so was I, trying to stay warm as the temperature dropped. It was dark by the time he was done, but the heat was on. My fears of frozen pipes could go.

But two days later, another nasty surprise awaited. Apparently a back storm door had been left open, and the contractor found a pond inside the entryway…the main door let it through. He couldn’t stay, so I ran down with piles of towels, cleaned up the water, then peeled up the linoleum. This clearly had happened before. The floor was rotted underneath the lineoluem.

So now we have to replace the subfloor, and figure out what to do about that door. My vote is to eliminate it. It isn’t really useful or needed, and it’s obviously been a problem for a very long time.

We will be discussing it. And adding it to the budget.

But I had one win. The huge vintage kitchen cabinet looks great after a fresh coat of paint and some vigorous scrubbing of the gorgeous Eastlake hardware.

We take the wins we can claim. And soldier on.

But no more surprises would really be nice.