The Joys of Gas

The above photo is the ceiling of our laundry area, right off the kitchen.

For about a year, we'd been smelling gas occasionally in our garage.  We had a guy from the gas company come out maybe six months ago.  Maybe two different guys.  Anyway they waved a little wand-like thing around that made high-pitched sound if it detected gas.  I could use one of those when the dogs are having digestive issues.  But nothing.

But now the house has been on the market for a while and our crack realtor mentioned to us in passing that several prospective buyers has smelled gas.  Hey quit being so negative, I demanded, find us someone who wants to make an offer on a house with an undetermined gas leak!

Well time to call the gas co again, I guess.  So the guy comes out with his magic gas sniffer and points it at an exposed pipe in a hole at the bottom of the wall of the garage, and sure enough it immediately emits a high-pitched whine.  The whole process took about fifteen seconds.  He seemed a bit disgusted that the previous guy hadn't found the leak.

Anyway gas company policy is, when there's a leak, to turn off your gas and PUT A LOCK ON THE VALVE.  Suddenly faced with the prospect of no gas -- no hot water, no cooking, no dryer -- I asked the guy, what if I just break that lock and turn my gas back on?  After all, we'd been living with the leak for so long.  He responded, well, it's a felony.  Go ahead John Dillinger! I declined.

That was ten days ago.  The job of finding and fixing the leak is mine and my plumber's.  They jackhammered a few holes in the garage floor and capped the gas pipe (it supplied a gas heater in the office above the garage, a heater that hasn't been there for years).  But that didn't work.  The gas guy came back but the meter still showed there was a slow leak somewhere, so no gas for you!  Boy was I mad.

But it was off to the Y for showers, a trip to the laundromat for Ellen, and cooking on one hotplate for us.

Ultimately the plumbers were unable to find the leak, and had to assume it was somewhere in the concrete slab that sits not only under our garage but also extends to under most of the kitchen.

So that meant going to DefCon 5: running new gas lines from the meter in the basement to the kitchen and dryer (near the kitchen).  Through the walls and ceilings.  See above.

Thankfully, after ten full days, we got our gas back yesterday.