Clogs and Progress!

For the archives! Elvin shows off the novitiate tub pipe which, for the record, has an opening one quarter of an inch wide! No wonder even Drano wouldn't work!

For as many years as most of the nuns in the house can remember the novitiate tubs and sinks have often drained very slowly or even sometimes not at all. A sign of a newcomer was that she would fill the bathtub too high and the water would start dripping into the kitchen. Evidence of this was clearly visible when the men pulled out the metal ceiling panels and we saw rotten floor beams and scary looking pipes. However, we said, "Someday but not now," when the question came up about fixing it. When you start fixing plumbing does it ever stop?

Well, our Lord said, "Sisters, NOW is the time!" and last week a few of us were standing in the kitchen during evening recreation checking out the new stove hood when DRIP! DRIP! By the next day that drip was a shower!

Then the tubs began backing up!

The leak, long thought to be coming from the tubs was coming from a sink so the men had to remove the sink, drill through the wall and replace the pipes. (Of course, this just happens to be the bathroom that is 3 feet across from the novice mistress' cell!) For several days Elvin and his men have been hard at work fixing the leak and locating the source of the tub back up. A weekend attack of Drano did nary a thing!

Thanks to Elvin's persistence the source of the back ups was found, not at the site itself, but down in the boiler room and this was probably the cause of the tubs backing up in the professed dormitory! As you can see by the photo above it's not surprising!

OK, you are all probably tired of hearing about all this. New photos are up, too. (August 11)

Walls are going up in the refectory and hallway and the kitchen area is ready for the insulation and fiberglass walls! Still much to do but it's exciting to see the daily progress. The men are finishing up in the novitiate, closing up the once-was-closet and cleaning up their mess. Now THAT is progress!