Moved In

We finally were able to start moving in to our house this past Friday. At 1:30 p.m. on Friday the lender finally released the funds (even though we closed on Wednesday), and it felt like all the stress was finally lifted off our shoulders.

Saturday morning we had some guys in our ward come help us to move the last of our stuff across the street to our new house. We only had the heavy stuff to move, like the fridge, washer and dryer, couches, beds and the piano. In true fashion it was raining while we moved our furniture. Here is a picture of us moving the piano in the rain, good times.

We owe a special thanks to all that helped us move in. They made the job go by very quickly. We love being in our house, and other than one big dramatic incident, the new house is being great to us.

That one dramatic incident is the problem we had with the sewer line. On Sunday we noticed that the water was backed up from the drain in the basement. When we called a plumber out to investigate the problem, he gave us some news we weren't too happy to receive. The new homes in the area have a "clean-out" pipe that is located in front of the house and allows plumbers access to the main sewer line. It appears that our contractors either never capped that pipe or the cap somehow came off. Either way, it allowed rocks to fall in that pipe and back up the sewer line. After showers, dishes and laundry on Saturday, the line was backed up and into our basement. The plumber quoted us a price of $2,400 to excavate and fix the problem. I wasn't too frustrated with the problem because we bought the home for so cheap, I could handle some issues. We wouldn't be able to hold the contractors or seller responsible though because the seller (the bank) sold us the house "as is", so we would have to cover all costs.

Luckily for us we live in a ward where most of the guys work in construction. Jake Jorgenson recommended that we ask our neighbor Shane if we could hire him to excavate it for us. On Monday morning he brought over the back-hoe from a company he works for and he and another guy dug a huge, 9 foot deep hole to access the main sewer line.

We removed the vertical portion of the pipe and got all the rocks out. We then verified that the main line out to the city line was not blocked. After we were satisfied that the line was clear we reattached the pipe and buried the hole.

Shane was a ton of help and bailed us out of a big mess. He was also able to do it for much, much cheaper than the plumber had quoted us, so luckily for us the big drama turned out to be not so expensive. I ran to the local hardware store and bought a cap for the pipe so as to avoid any future problems with the line.

On a really bright note, the pipe can serve a great purpose for us in the future. My dad mentioned that when we have a trailer or 5th wheel (or Dan's sweet Winnebago) we can use the pipe to empty the waste without having to pay to go to a dumping station. I instantly could picture myself out there on a cold morning in my bathrobe, kicking back a mountain dew while emptying out the 5th wheel septic tank. If any of the neighbors give me an odd look, I'll just hold my mountain dew can high, and say with pride, "The sh***er's full!" (reference to the greatest Christmas movie ever made. quote given by the best cousin-in-law imaginable)