Plans of becoming Mr. Fix It spring a leak

By Brian McCauley, bmccauley@miconews.com

Brian McCauley

I stare at my wife’s face and immediately know something is wrong.

“Uh oh,” I think. “What did I do? What didn’t I do? What did I miss? Is there some weird holiday in April I forgot about? Dang you, Hallmark.”

“There’s either a mouse in there, or we have a leak,” Katie says as she gestures toward the utility closet in the basement of our new home.

“Oh, I’ll take care of it,” I say with confidence, desperately hoping for it to be a mouse, a rat or even a badger. Anything besides a leak.

It doesn’t take long for my hopes of a badger battle to be crushed. A storage rack inside the closet is drenched, and a steady drip from the ceiling clearly is the culprit.

Using my scout-like tracking abilities, I trace the leak to the upstairs bathroom, where the floor around the toilet is covered with water, damaging the wooden trim.

The leak appears to be coming from the shut off valve, which I quickly turn off. With the leak momentarily maintained, I decide to initiate my plumbing skills and make my dad (Mr. Fix It) proud. Unfortunately, I quickly realize I have no such skills and go to plan B.

“Honey, where is the number for the home warranty company?” I blurt.

It’s been about two months since Katie and I moved into our first home, and the plumbing fiasco has been our first major issue. Maybe it’s just me, or perhaps it’s my entire generation, but I don’t seem to have the natural fixing ability of my father or his father before him.

I grew up in the suburbs and had most of my necessities provided to me. I never worked to fix my toys, my bike, my car or any other items. That was always handled by a parent or a professional.

I sometimes wish I would have had the experience of growing up on a farm, like so many of the people that I have met in Miami County did.

On the farm, you have no choice but to learn how to fix your own equipment. You can’t afford to pay somebody else to do it, and you can’t afford not to fix it because working equipment is part of your livelihood.

I guess there’s some things they can’t teach in school. Basic plumbing and electrical work and knowledge of all things mechanical weren’t standard classes in my high school.

Still, one thing I have learned for myself is common sense.

“You have to do what?” I rhetorically asked the plumber who just advised me that they likely would have to cut a hole in our kitchen wall. I smelled a scam, but I didn’t have the knowledge to call him on it.

So, I turned to something I do know how to do: Talk to people. I called my father-in-law, who put us in touch with a friend who has done some plumbing, who stopped by and discovered that the leak could be repaired with a simple $10 pipe, which led me to contact my real estate agent, who then contacted the warranty company, which decided to refund our $75 deductible to the plumbing company.

Whew, I may not be Mr. Fix It, but I guess as long as I know people who are, Katie and I will probably survive ... as long as we can steer clear of those badgers.