This Corrosion

Yesterday morning, we found water under our sink.

Specifically, we found that a container we’d put under there a while back because of a suspicious damp spot was in fact full of water, and when we ran the tap it was obvious there was some sort of leak. But exactly where the leak was was difficult to tell, so I reached in and tried to turn one of the nuts on the trap…

…and that’s when it happened! My finger went through the metal and the whole trap just ‘fell off’ the pipe!

dsc09518.JPG < Wow!

As you can see the level of corrosion was astounding. It is almost unbelievable the pipe had kept it’s integrity for as long as it did. Imagine if this had burst when (for instance) the dishwasher was emptying?

So, to make a long story short, the connection out of the wall was a bit nonstandard and it took three trips to the hardware store to get the correct parts to fix it. This is in no way surprising to me, since I believe this home was built by an eccentric. For instance, the pipe in our bath leading the faucet is nonstandard as well, and virtually every electrical socket in the entire house has been installed upside down!

But the job was finished (some hours later) and now the undersink is brand spanking new:

dsc09513.JPG

Ideally I would have preferred to put a plastic pipe in, but we don’t have an option with what comes out of the wall. So eventually – 40 years from now maybe? – this may have to be repaired again…

The joys of owning a home 🙂

2 Responses to “This Corrosion”

  1. mycroft says:

    Hey now, hey now now…are you sure you didn’t perform dim mak on that poor pipe? 🙂

  2. Bernard says:

    I’m surprised you fixed it yourself. I would have called a plumber without considering that I could do it myself.

    Next thing that breaks around here, I’m gonna fix it myself. Damn those expensive handymen!