Plumbing Problems

We finally got our plumbing fixed!*

What was wrong:

- the toilet wouldn't stop flushing

- the hard-to-reach pipe behind the toilet had a leak

- the bathroom faucet wasn't right, causing leaks into the cabinet (and mold...)

- the kitchen sink was getting more and more clogged, and the trap was sealed shut

- our snake didn't seem to work on the shower drain (too many kinks?)

The Schedule:

Late December - we were getting ready for our long trip, and realized that we just didn't have the energy to deal with the plumbing. We turned off the water while we were gone, so we weren't worried about run-away water problems 😉

Early March - we got home, and discovered that the kitchen sink clog had dried out - you'd think that would be good! But No! It was like concrete! I could soak it enough in hot water that I could poke a few holes in it, but it certainly was not very useable. Time to get the plumber in! Time to *find* a plumber!

March 9 - the plumber came, and fixed the kitchen sink. He replaced the trap (siphon), and cleared the pipes (phew!). He started on the bathroom, but then something we said clicked - he thought we were the owners, but realized we were renting. So he had to stop everything else and make an estimate for the owner to approve.

March 20 - yes, we waited this long! We finally went to the apartment office and talked to someone in person. He looked up the record, and said that everything was there, so it shouldn't take much longer to get the plumber back. Hah!

Somewhere in here, we got the bill for our part. Unfortunately, it came to an old email address (how's that?!?), so we didn't see it until almost too late. No-late-charge later, we got that settled.

March 29 - still no action, so we went back to the apartment office. We talked to another agent who said that the owner had to approve the work. So, Rick (diplomatically, but firmly) asked her to contact him while we waited there. That worked!!! Everything was approved - really, this time! When we got back home, we called the plumber - they were closed that day, so we were resigned to waiting another day. But! That evening, they called back! They could come the next day 😁

March 30 - the plumber came, and got to work. He replaced the toilet mechanism (and I was able to clean the "unreachable" bits while it was apart), replaced the sink faucet, cleaned the pipes, and soldered the leaks in the water pipe. 

Early April - the toilet still won't shut off sometimes... The plumber comes back and makes an adjustment - OK, but we're watching it.

Late April - more interminable toilet flushes. This time, a different plumber comes (same company), and does more fiddling. This time we get a bill for the extra fiddles.

*July - well, once in a while, the flusher sticks, and the water keeps going - usually a second flush will fix it. Honestly, I can't keep up with all of it...

Here's the bizarre new toilet mechanism 

We've decided on 3 things:

1) no flushing if you can't hear whether it stops

2) turn off the apartment water when we go on trips

3) next time we need something done, don't wait on the apartment office - get in there and push to get things going!

So far, so good!

Our Summer Place

We decided to try something different this Summer! We're staying home in Sète instead of escaping the heat like last year (trips to Oslo and Glasgow). While the high temperatures here generally stay in the 80s, the humidity can be brutal. Sleep is an impossible dream...

We took drastic measures, and they are paying off! The living room has a good window for our air conditioner exhaust, and it's big enough (just) for all our important furniture. We effectively turned it into a studio apartment 😎

We moved the bed in, and a big chair and the table out. We used the pool-noodle exhaust gizmo from last year, but got serious about blocking the roll-down shutter. We got some wood from Bricorama (like a Home Depot here), cut a hole for the exhaust, slid it into the shutter rails, and bolted it in place - now we can close the shutter right down to the board, and block that hot (and bright) sun 🌞. One improvement not shown here - that exhaust hose is not only hot from the air, it acts just like a light tube (which, believe me, is no fun in the morning! I made a screen for it - much better...

We've had it in place for about a week now, and I've been tracking our electricity cost against the A/C usage. Our base cost, when we're not home (the refrigerator is only thing running) is 70¢/day. Normal good weather living raises that to 1.15€/day. With fans and the A/C in place, set to 27°C (80°F), and usually running from 9 or 11 PM to 8 or 9 AM, it bounces around 2€/day. We did have one big outlier - 4.50€ for a day that was *very* humid; we ran the A/C almost the entire day! 

So far, so good - we're comfortable, and we can sleep!

Loire Valley Wrap-up

Overall, we're pretty happy with this trip - the Loire Valley is known for its huge number of chateaux (aka castles). We definitely had to visit a few, but we didn't want the entire time spent getting numb with castle-fatigue! We discovered that the area itself is beautiful! It's full of forests, farmland, and rivers. It has a thriving wine industry (we found a new favorite white). The weather is pleasant. And apparently the music festival (June 21 all over France) is *extremely* popular! Crowded even. (we had to give up on that plan...)

Getting home was an adventure... We drove it all in one go, mostly on autoroutes (aka freeways). Google maps decided to have a little fun with us 🙄. First, it wanted us to drive way out of our way, sticking with the freeway long past when we should have turned off (it did this to us once before, returning from the Millau viaduct, so I was prepared for that. Then, it wanted us to get on the freeway at Tours, then get off, cut through town, get back on... Well, I was able to force some directions that kept us on a nice freeway exchange, but I couldn't set it like that on the day. OK - I figured we drive the easy route, ignoring the directions, until it could catch up. But even then, it sent us in the opposite direction! Here's a perfectly good half-cloverleaf, but it says to turn off, then U-turn, then get back on going the right way. Unbelievable, the mess! Well, anyway - the drive was mostly pleasant and low key 🙂.

A fun item - one department (aka county) we drove through is bounded by the Loir river and the Cher river, giving it the name "Le Loir et Cher" (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loir-et-Cher). When you say this out loud, it sounds like "le loir est cher," meaning that the place is expensive! (If all you thought about were the chateaux, you could believe it!) 😜

One of our rest stops was at the overlook of the Eiffel Viaduct - yes, the same Eiffel of Tower fame also built bridges! You can definitely see the same hand here

This aire (aka rest stop) is one that can be accessed from either direction of the freeway - I'm glad we got to see it!

~~~

Our total driving for the trip was 1800 km (1120 miles), quite a lot! 

We kept a pretty good gas efficiency, at 5.3 l/100km (44 mpg).

If I had paid just a *little* more attention to the speed limits, we probably would have had better gas mileage. And, I wouldn't have come home to a love note from the traffic guys - a 45€ speeding ticket from our very first day! 

See all the photos in the Loire Valley 2023 album.