I will never again, as long as I live, take running water in my home for granted.

Since a pipe buried under my bathroom floor burst late April, I have been without running water to the bathrooms on the second floor of my house.  For each flush, I had to fill two or three empty plastic kitty litter containers from the kitchen sink, lug them upstairs, and empty them into the toilet tank.  Or, I could go down to the finished basement where there is a full bath to use the john and take showers. 

But I’d rather take a bath!  Forget it.  As close as I get is the whirlpool at my gym, and they won’t let me shave my legs there.

My plumber gave me the bad news that both of my bathrooms, circa 1918, had to be taken down to the studs.  These early examples of indoor plumbing were a sloppy mix of galvanized steel and copper pipes, and the burst pipes were not only galvanized, but inaccessible – they were buried is 8 inches of concrete. 

Then my insurance agent, Greg Lyons of State Farm, gave me the good news.   The demolition and some of the restoration would be covered by my home owner’s insurance.

So, after three and a half months of getting estimates and selecting contractors, relief is on the horizon!  Tuesday, the crew from McConkey and Keane, a participant in the State Farm Premier Contractor Program, showed up early in the morning. 

While I had some moments of extreme frustration getting estimates on cost and time frame from their estimator, their work crew has been fabulous.

They kicked up a lot of dust during the demolition, and they cleaned it up!  They were respectful of me and my old house.  They put up plastic and taped closet doors shut.  They put down paper so they didn’t damage wood floors.  They didn’t let my cats out of the basement.  They were nice to Willie, my Labradoodle.

So far, so good!  I’ll keep you updated as the project continues!