128 Scout - Day 5: Further down the rabbit hole... (Part 3)
This morning dad and I gathered some tools/supplies from the house and then went out to Home Depot and picked up more plumbing stuff as well as some weed-killer (for the foundation of the house and shop), bug killer (for the foundation and interior perimeter of the house and shop), and some fire ant-killer (for the mounds that I've seen here and there in the yard).
By the time we finally got everything rounded up it was getting close to noon and I had wanted to go to Brazoria Tractor & Equipment to purchase a mower, so we put the plumbing on hold. Much to my surprise, when I went to pay for the mower my dad told me that he and my mother were going to pay for the mower as a house-warming gift! This was pretty awesome news and very much appreciated as it was a pretty sizeable investment and I know that money is going to be a little bit tight for at least the next couple of months with a few of the projects that I want or need to get done for moving in. We didn't have the trailer with us at the time, but I will get the mower picked up some time this coming week if at all possible, because I will need to get the lawn mowed ASAP. I've got a lot of reading to do though on how to operate and care for the new machine though.
After that, we got back to the new house and started in on the plumbing again. It took a fair amount of time to get all of the pipe pieces cut to the right sizes and pointed in the right directions, cemented and secured together, and tested for leaks, but eventually we got it done. Unfortunately, the plumbing tasks are still not complete. I discovered that the toilet in the main bathroom was not adequately secured to the floor, so we drained it as best we could and then pulled it up to have a look. Whoever installed the closet flange did it wrong. Instead of aligning it properly, it was rotated a bit counter-clockwise, which resulted in the closet bolts for the toilet being aligned with the openings in the flange (which prevents the flange from holding them locked into place). Unfortunately, it's cemented into the drain pipe. The repair is going to require separating the flange from the pipe somehow (if I'm lucky it can be chiseled off safely, if I'm less lucky we will have to use a hole-saw to "cut" it out). We decided to call it a day as far as plumbing goes.
Dad sprayed some of the week killer around the foundation of the house while I cleaned up our tools and messes from the plumbing projects. The bottle of weed killer didn't go quite as far as expected, so it looks like I'm going to need more weed killer for the rest of the house foundation and for the shop's foundation. Mom had also come over for a bit and was nice enough to clean out my refrigerator for me while we were working on the plumbing, so now I can start moving some food in there!