Beachcombing

Life is a journey and there’s a new discovery around every corner.

After turning the corner into the bedroom hallway on Saturday a few weeks ago, the parquet floor beneath my feet produced a “squish” sound. Upon further inspection I discovered that the hot water heater for that side of the house was the culprit and immediately began taking the necessary steps to stop the leak.

But the damage was done. A remediation team recommended by the insurance company deployed six blowers and a dehumidifier for one full week. A few days after that, the tiles in some spots swelled to four inches above the concrete slab.

I’ve always been a do-it-yourself kind of homeowner. In years past I’ve laid tile, replaced plumbing, built a small addition to the kitchen as well as a large gazebo in the back yard. This time we’ll hire a contractor.

Shopping around for replacement flooring you soon learn that three-quarter-inch parquet flooring from the mid 1950s costs in excess of $35 per square foot in 2017. That’s about five times more than you’d pay for carpet or laminate flooring.

The good news is that a testing company hired by the insurance company determined an absence of asbestos under the parquet, so it will not be necessary for workers in space suits to remove the damaged floor. That would have caused us to move to a motel room for at least one week.

So while we wait for the remediation company to remove the damaged floor I am doing some re-piping of hot water lines that need replacement. Pex pipe is the latest technology that uses a crimping tool at each joint, thereby avoiding the more expensive copper plumbing that uses solder.

In the late 1970s I crawled all over our attic to install a wired security system and then did the same thing for a few neighbors – for a fee. A few decades later most security devices are wireless and my body is telling me that it shouldn’t be engaged in attic crawls.

I hear you, bod, and that’s why I’ll hire contractors – especially those who advertise with us either currently or in the past.

Henceforth I’ll be a supervisor in life’s journey.

Welcome aboard to our spring semester interns, Kelley Pierce and Collin James, both are attending CSULB.

Hiring interns is one way we can share our knowledge with others and let them learn about the various aspects of producing a newspaper.

Interns also share new concepts with you that come from the classroom. Each brings a fresh perspective in their writing, which brings more variety to our pages.

publisher@beachcomber.news