What Were They Thinking?

Plumbing, Day 2. It smells terrible in here from drilling into the bathroom walls and pulling off sections of sheetrock and lath and plaster. I finally turned the heater off so we could leave the doors open and put the fans on, but it feels like all that stuff is in my throat, and it's cold and damp, wah wah wah, and I'm really glad I'm not a plumber. 

In the photo, J is holding a generous section of mystery pipe from under the house, an example of all the baroque twists and turns he's finding in the old set-up. This piece is someone's decision to reverse water direction without really envisioning the whole project beforehand. J assures us that hot water in the sinks will be available much more quickly once he's finished rerouting the system in a more direct way. There is an amazing amount of rust and sludge in the galvanized pipes he is removing.

We left for awhile to go have a bowl of chowder on the wharf--a really nice break. By the time we got back they had power-vac'd the work areas and were ready to leave. And now it's warm and peaceful, the cat has come out of wherever she was hiding, and we are about to order a pizza since we can't easily clean up after cooking. One day closer to being finished with this project.