It’s amazing how the right people can get the ball moving when it comes to getting work done. My husband and I couldn’t get a plumber to come fix our upstairs kitchen sink in a timely manner last week….today the general contractor that was hired was on the phone and had a plumber lined up to come over tonight to fix our toilet in the basement.  To quote the general contractor, “It’s unacceptable that the only workable toilet isn’t running right.” Ha. Well needless to say, the plumber is here and the problem was tree roots! Yes, that’s right, tree roots! Can any one else relate? I’m told it’s a common problem, but I never thought that was the problem! Now we’re wondering if insurance will still cover it. On a slightly different note, the plumber looked at our water heater and decided that we did not need a new one. The old one is fine; just needs to be cleaned up a little. Shucky darns! I personally was hoping for a new one just so it could be moved to the other side of the furnace; making our basement floor plan a little nicer. My husband did ask him, however, how much it would cost if we did one down the road. It’ll be approximately $900.00 Ouch.

To switch subjects again; while my father-in-law was here today he wondered out loud if the steps going to the basement (currently in the kitchen) were originally flipped so the top of the stairs are in the dining room to go down. It would actually make sense as there is an oddly placed small window in what is now a closet. Yes, a closet in the corner of the dining room. How odd is that?! Anyways, the floor is apparently not original either he said. I told Shane what he said and now he’s trying to figure that out. I sure wish we could transport back in time to see how the house was originally, or at least find pictures.

Here is a picture of the dining room closet. On the right you can see some fake “stairs” that are just storage shelves above the real stairs that go to the basement. Such a pretty window to have in a closet too. So what we are wondering is if you would originally walk in there, turn right, and then go down stairs into the basement.

And from the post yesterday, here is the rear entry currently. Behind me is the kitchen. That purple wall directly in front and above the stairs is the backside of those fake “stairs” in that closet.

When our kitchen gets gutted, we will look at the walls in there as we are pretty certain the main rear entry door used to be in there, rather than this awkward location on the steps.

And to keep with Shane’s water damage theme, here is what extreme moisture levels mixed with cold air does to a nice old door: