Home Improvement

Can you get to the meter? The meter has a very sensitive indicator on it that moves with the slightest flow of water. Mark its location with a sharpie, make sure you turn off everything and then check it again in an hour. See if it has moved.

Picasso_sl said:

I'm calling a copper pinhole at a fireblock or stud

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The problem is it doesn't sound like it. It sounds like the same volume of water moving that would refill a toilet (maybe slightly less), so if that much water is moving it should be going somewhere.

I will probably do the meter check this evening when I get my endoscope if nothing pops up. Problem is it showing something or not won't actually indicate the issue. Last ditch it'll save me a call to the plumber to diagnose (if there's truly zero leaks) but I can't imagine that water is going nowhere.

Yea unfortunately that side of the house is far away from the washing machine, water heater and pool auto level. Since I ruled out the cold supply line that even gets rid of all the spigots on that side of the house. The only thing I can think of where there isn't a leak would be something like negative pressure at the water heater so it's sucking hot water back if no faucet is on.

Dandai_sl said:

Anyone have advice on getting rid of moles?

I think I've killed at least one or two by baiting the tunnels with the earthworm shaped poison, but without a body it's obviously hard to know for sure. I'm still dealing with some tunnel activity, but I think it's just one now as the quantity of tunnels has greatly diminished. This method is a challenge (and requires a lot of patience) to do correctly since you have to identify an active tunnel where they would be exposed to the bait. They make a ton of tunnels that they only use once.

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I know this is a couple weeks old but since someone has cursed me with moles and I've become a self taught expert I thought I would chime in. I killed 16 moles in my yard last year and I'm not exaggerating. Do not try and kill the grub worms as the moles are primarily eating earth worms so that is a waste of money. Do not buy the poison worms as you will never know if you kill one or not and I'm leery of that even working. Moles also are very territorial and will not share tunnels but will take over a set of tunnels if you kill the original occupant so you have to be vigilant or moles will move right back in.

The easiest way to kill a mole is to use the spike traps. I think a company called Victor makes one and you should be able to google and find them. The easiest time is after a big rain because the earth worms come up and the moles will follow them and their runs will be very visible. Now the key to spike success is you have to set the trap deep or you will come home and see that trap sprung and then dig it up to find nothing. So identify your run and smash the run down very firmly with your foot and add a little dirt right where the spring mechanism contacts the dirt. Now set the trap and make sure to work the spikes in and out of the ground until there are no restrictions so you know you get good spring action. It will be a little bit of trial and error and disappointment until you learn how to set the trap but eventually it gets easy. Good luck in your mole hunting and I've only had to kill 1 this year so just stay after them and you will get them.

He's the Ron Swanson style Mole Whisperer.

So I got the endoscope in the wall, evidence of some water being in the cavity BUT it doesn't look recent because it's only on the wood - looks like the drywall was replaced after a repair years ago.

I'm beginning to suspect the copper pipe burst under the slab. Joy.

Yes. Most likely I will have to run new pex through the attic. Repairing it is likely not worthwhile in my opinion - ifsomethinghappened to the pipe in one place, it will invariably happen again at some point.

I wonder how much I should expect price wise? It's about a 60 foot run through open attic space and down one wall into the existing copper tree with all the fixtures. Doesn't seem like it should bethatludicrous but maybe I'm wrong. I'll also probably have them replumb hot and cold because fuck it, the pex itself is like $50.

Palum_sl said:

Yes. Most likely I will have to run new pex through the attic. Repairing it is likely not worthwhile in my opinion - ifsomethinghappened to the pipe in one place, it will invariably happen again at some point.

I wonder how much I should expect price wise? It's about a 60 foot run through open attic space and down one wall into the existing copper tree with all the fixtures. Doesn't seem like it should bethatludicrous but maybe I'm wrong. I'll also probably have them replumb hot and cold because fuck it, the pex itself is like $50.

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It'll be almost entirely labor. I think we buy 1/2" pex for like $0.18/ft.

Yeah, it's 40 cents a foot or less retail, so the price is all in labour. Shouldn't be too bad. Plus, get the cool manifolds so you can shut off water to different zones. Hella handy.

It's okay. We've all judged you already.