Can't Catch a Brake

On Sunday, I finally dove into the task of connecting the old claw foot tub to the plumbing. 

To start with, I had to fix a mistake I made earlier when roughing in the DWV (drain waste vent).  The line between the tub drain trap and the main outlet wasn't at the proper pitch.  Fixing the problem meant cutting one of the lines, twisting it a few degrees, and re-coupling it.

After cutting the line and setting the trap line at the right pitch, I realized that I didn't have the right size coupler.  Did I mention this was Sunday?  Luckily, Dan & Whit's is only about 10 miles away. 

Dan & Whit's is a New England country store in the finest tradition.  Their motto is "If we don't have it, you don't need it," and I haven't found them to be wrong.  In a rambling set of buildings connected by narrow passages over uneven floors, Dan & Whit's provides the locals with everything they need seven days a week.

Since I was going to Dan & Whits, I decided to invite the family.  We all piled into the old Dodge truck and headed south.  After getting the essentials, it was lunchtime so we headed to the local pizza brew pub (that tries to approximate New York style pizza) and ordered a pie.

With our bellies full of pizza, and our back seat full of supplies for home renovation projects current and future, we piled back into the truck anticipating a productive afternoon of plumbing.  That's when I stepped on the brake pedal and it went straight to the floor.  Ugh!

I forgot to mention that on Sunday, the weather was holding at around 20 degrees and damp (a winter storm was on the way).  It was hard enough on my 40 something year-old skeleton, but obviously too much for my 14 year-old truck.  A puddle of brake fluid sat beneath the engine compartment, right under the master brake cylinder.

Well, with every little bit of bad luck comes some good.  The Howe Library which sat less than a block away was open on Sunday. Why was this lucky?  It provided warm shelter and entertainment for my wife and son while I drove the handicapped truck 10 miles home in low gear with flashers going along the breakdown lane hoping the parking brake would serve in a pinch.

With the truck back home sans incident, I jumped into my wife's car and went to retrieve the other two thirds of the family just minutes before closing time at the library.

The misadventure cost me most of the afternoon.  Plumbing would have to wait yet another day.  The truck will have to wait even longer.

handyman

Comments

[Jennifer]

Painful... that looks like OUR 14 year old Dodge work truck. Hope it "gets better" soon! Brakes are not a fun thing to not have.