Shortly after my last post, winter appeared in Central Texas. Rain, cold, freezing rain, and just a little snow to cover the ice from the freezing rain. Most people seemed to take preparation seriously. The house and other properties did okay. Water stayed on at the shop and the auction barn. A faucet at the auction barn ruptured, and I couldn’t get in to discover it due to the door lock breaking. Once I got inside and discovered the leak, I had the city turn the water off, and began clean up. Fortunately, no auction items were damaged in the process.

Where I kept water running at the house, it stayed on, which seemed to keep pressure down in the rest of the system, so pipes retained integrity. For future freeze days, I may simply turn off the water at the house, drain the pipes, and stay at Crockett, because it is best equipped to withstand the cold. I’ll note it also does well in the heat. It lacks a stove but has everything else needed to live comfortably. I doubt I’d want to spend more than a couple of days there, but it works as intended — for emergency options when power (or water) is out at the house. That was one purchase I’ve been pleased to have made.

I replaced the auction barn door lock with a leftover combo lock I had from Crockett. I also ordered a garage door lock for one of the garage doors, so I would have a second way to get into the building. A friend installed it for me, so I feel better about that building now. (I need to ensure something similar for the shop. Technically, I have another way in, but it’s blocked by a full file cabinet.

Despite making it through the freezing weather with only one minor plumbing issue, since then, they’ve been popping up all over. I went to turn off the bedroom light one night, and there was a puddle of water on the floor. There was a slow leak from inside the wall of the bathroom. I turned the water off to the house and went to bed. My plumber came the next afternoon and found a brittle pipe about to burst and replaced it. Whew! It could have been so much worse!

At another building, I’ve noticed water leaking from my cleanout when I wash a load of clothes. Uh-oh. I’ll bet that pipe is blocked with tree roots. Time to call a plumber to deal with that before it becomes a really terrible issue. The plumber told me the city should take care of that problem with my cleanout, but if they didn’t, contact him. Sure enough, the city took care of it, and there was no runoff after washing a load of towels. The city took care of it until it didn’t work. I had to have them come back, and they said I need to get a plumber to fix whatever is broken between my clean out and the main (which appears to be in the middle of the intersection). I have called the job into the plumber who said he would take care of it if necessary, so we’ll see what happens.

I’m redoing the bathroom at the auction barn — removing a deceased water heater, adding a new water heater or a small on-demand unit, replacing the toilet and getting a fresh reseat job, and adding a utility sink that will be more useful for cleaning auction items prior to listing photos.

Lastly, I’m getting estimates to finish the third bathroom in the house. We didn’t need it, but over the last year, I’ve decided it would make the house much more functional if I ever have guests (not likely, but it could happen).