Plumbing

I hate plumbing issues. I live in a house built in the 1950s, and whenever I have to have some plumbing done, it seems to create its own issues.  The pipes are old and brittle, and working on one pipe sends vibrations elsewhere and results in other pipes being broken.  As a consequence, when I had an outside faucet replaced, an inside pipe broke.  The plumber had to make a hole in the wall to get at it, and did so behind the bathroom.  I now have an access port for the bathroom pipes.

More recently, over the last many months, the pressure of the water in the shower decreased remarkedly.  I tried soaking the screen in the pipe to clean it up, and I tried soaking the shower head in vinegar to dissolve the water deposits. Those efforts did not help much.  So, most recently, I took the shower attachment off the pipe from the wall. There were actually little grains of sand in the shower attachment. I cleaned that out, and what a difference it made!

The water fairly sizzles out of the shower head!  The time involved in taking a shower has decreased.  The first time I showered with the increased water pressure, it became apparent that the drain had slowed, and I needed to use drain cleaner to open up the drain. I had only been showering with hot water, but with the increased pressure, the full effect of the hot water can be felt, so I have to mix in some cold water. (I turned the hot water heater down a little today.)

As is true of so many home repair projects, one thing lead to another, then to another. It all turned out okay. I am grateful that this turned out okay.  I could have broken the pipe from the wall or caused other problems.