Baby Swiss

Just by chance, it would seem, a small garbage can was never properly put away, and sat on a "knee wall" in the basemen. This garbage can almost miraculously collected water. Whenever we felt the pipes overhead, we could find no water. So we continued to empty the garbage and leave it there. Finally my husband noticed from where and when the leaking occurred. A big drain pipe from the master bath. Whenever we drained the tub from the kids' bath, it leaked.

Fast forward a few months, and we've spent another month and a half trying to get our "builder" to check it out. He sends the "plumber's" son, who is also a "plumber" (they do have a business, but at the success rate he's had on our house, about 2% now, it's questionable if he's really a plumber). Plumber B filled the tub, listened around, and looked at the pipe in the basement. He did a few measurements, then declared he was positive one of the guys hanging the cabinetry in our kitchen sunk a screw into the pipe.

I'm not to thrilled about that, because instead of going with the stock Merillat cabinets, we pushed for custom made, quarter-sawn white oak. They are beautiful. One of the few awesome things in our house, because they were made by someone actually licensed in the business, and not just a farmer with a hammer and nail gun (no offense).

So, I didn't want anyone but the cabinet guy to touch these things. He came, and decided that it would be easier to remove the backing of the cabinet from inside, instead of taking down two walls of cabinets. He took a hole saw and put four holes in the back of the cabinet trying to find where they hit the pipe. No such luck, because the licensed fellas did their job right, and the once 2% successful plumber is now 1% successful, and my cabinets look like baby swiss.

I know the cabinet guys will make the cabinets look fabulous again, but I'm wondering why in the world did I trust a "plumber" who's dad had such a shaky track record?

Chalk it up to a lesson learned.