This needs sorting post haste, STAT, toute de suite, as the ability to take a shower is somewhat limited when there's a mahusive hole in the wall. The prior owners took the opinion that missing grout was a perfectly acceptable maintenance choice. Water being water took the opinion that the wallboard behind the tiles was a perfect thing to seep into. When Kirsty applied the lightest cleaning pressure, the wallboard fragmented. One of today's tasks was stripping back to semi-solid wallboard, then contact adhesive-ing wood strapping so that new wallboard can be fitted in the gap. It will have to do until we pull the bathroom down. We do have a functioning sink in the kitchen again - the trap was leaking so I took it apart. It was about 5mm too short (that's about 0.002938 smoots in your imperial ridiculousness). This isn't something that's happened with time - the brass hasn't shrunk with age. This leads me to the conclusion that the trap has been leaking for four decades. The horrid little drip pot under the trap that came free with the house would support this theory. How do you watch something drip for 40 years, periodically emptying the overflow (into the same trap presumably) and not do something about it? More importantly, what half-assed builder just ignored it when he first assembled it? 30 minutes work and $10 later, no more dripping. I might sell the drip pot as a piece of 60's heritage.
On duty: The family
Man hours of work: 15 hours
Cumulative hours: 121 hours
Cost of parts/labor: $138 (more paint, some plumbing supplies)
Cumulative cost since purchase: $2467
