Tell me your stories of something relatively simple to fix turned complicated

[amo_mea_filiis.]

My truck died Wednesday. Went to go grab an extra kid from school for a dentist appointment, and it wouldn't start. 95% likely fuel pump.

 

My son's behavior technician has 7 adult kids. One of her sons is a mechanic and does primarily side work in your driveway or road.

 

He comes by today and we run through diagnostics and it's at least the fuel pump (my truck has had issues with the anti theft system producing the same symptoms, so until the fuel pump is replaced, we won't know if it's also anti theft).

 

My block is oddly busy for a dead end, it's a slight downgrade, and it's tight. Not a safe place to jack the rear and work.

 

So he runs and rents a tow dolly to bring it to a local garage he sometimes works out of. We get the front of the truck up. Then he realized my 4-wheel drive is not on or off. It's auto (like all wheel drive), low, or high, and an electrical switch. No off. It can't be 2 wheel towed unless he disconnects the rear drive shaft which is a job on its own. He's currently returning the dolly and looking for a full trailer to tow it.

 

Replacing a fuel pump may not be "simple," but if I had a flat driveway, or a lot more money, it would have been done hours ago. (Money may not buy happiness, but it sure can buy some security!)

 

What have you done and run into problem after problem?

Edited November 11, 2017 by amo_mea_filiis.

[Miss Tick]

Every single house repair job ever.

 

Sorry about your hassle!

[JustEm]

Every single house repair job ever.

 

Sorry about your hassle!

This

[Rosika]

The baby fell asleep in my lap last night. I was watching television in the family room, and  :blushing: got way too sucked into a Real Housewives marathon trying to clear out my DVR shows. I figured we'd just sleep on the sofa for the night, but around 3 AM I woke up because I was too cold. I decided to carry the sleeping baby to my bed, and go back to sleep there. It should have been as easy as standing up, walking twenty feet to the bedroom, hopping into bed, and shoving a breast in his mouth before he woke up fully. We've done this a million times without him ever waking up. 

 

But no, not last night. My husband had been reading to the baby and forgot to close the blinds. The moon shines right into the room, and keeps me awake. (My husband sleeps in another room on the opposite side of the house, so he doesn't know how bright my room gets at night.) We have these awful, old blinds in that room - dangling vertical blinds. There are two cords, one to make each blind flip open or closed ... and another to make the entire set open or closed (exposing the full window). I can't reach the blinds easily because of the chaise in front of them, plus now I'm holding a sleeping 30-lb kid in one arm, trying not to wake him but unable to support his weight with only one hand as I fumble in the dark pulling all the wrong cords. And they're noisy. He wakes up, screams, and I'm like screw this and turn on the light so I can see what I'm doing. I finally get the stupid blinds closed. 

 

So baby is up and all pissed - flails himself back and hits me in the nose. It hurts like a sonofa***** so now I've got a screaming baby, a bloody nose, and ... wait, what's this? My son, who will only poop in MY bathroom because it's his favorite toilet (don't get me started) used the last of the toilet paper. My daughter, who will only wash her face in MY bathroom because I have the "good" soap (she has the same stuff in her own bathroom, but likes my BOTTLE better.  Don't get me started.) has used the last washcloth. So I'm screaming, baby's screaming, he's still flailing, I'm standing over the sink trying to rinse the blood off my hand and also pinch my nose while holding this fat kid in the other hand (I have carpal tunnel so it's painful). Nobody wakes up, despite my string of obscenities at top volume. 

 

The baby finally let's me put him down long enough to find some toilet paper. But now he and I are both wide awake. So we go back into the living room to finish the last three episodes on the DVR. This time I grab the blanket off of the rocking chair and cover up so I'm not cold. Shoulda done that to begin with, hindsight being what it is. Heads rolled this morning. 

 

ETA: You asked  :leaving:  but yeah, house repairs also. LOL

Edited November 11, 2017 by Rosika

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Hope your nose is ok! I did giggle a little at the sequence of events. My sleeping baby injuries are usually related to whacking a body part on a car part while trying to get the kid out of the car.

 

My father is a contractor, so home repair drama is normal for me. My son’s father is a plumber, and my cousin is an electrician. If I have an issue, any one of them can walk me through it.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I finally tracked down the number of a long time friend who used to do all my car repairs. Aside from issues that prevent it from running, because we’re 3 hours away from each other, I’ll be going back to him for everything.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I’m waiting for the tow truck to flatbed it to the garage. Overall cost is creeping, but still cheaper than a shop. And this is the last time I use someone other than my decade long friend. I feel like I’m chasing the current guy down, and I paid him ahead of time to not have to chase him down!

[marbel]

A curtain rod was coming out of the wall. When we went to fix it, we found that it had been badly installed and it had to come down altogether and the wall behind it fixed (there was a big hole or something).  We decided to take the opportunity to get rid of the curtains and put up blinds.

 

But since the hole in the wall had to be fixed, and fixing it would make the hole bigger temporarily, the wallpaper had to come off.  It was ugly, so we removed it from all 4 walls of the room, not just the one the window was on.

 

Then we saw that the wallpaper had been put up badly and the wall surface was a mess.  The walls had to be fixed (I don't know the term for that; It wasn't plaster) and then painted. 

 

We ended up having to move out of the house for 3 days while the walls were done.

 

The night after we returned home to our freshly-painted dining room, entry, and hallway (because once you start painting walls, may as well do the adjacent walls too, right?) our son projectile vomited all over the wall in the hallways outside his bedroom door. 

[amo_mea_filiis.]

A curtain rod was coming out of the wall. When we went to fix it, we found that it had been badly installed and it had to come down altogether and the wall behind it fixed (there was a big hole or something). We decided to take the opportunity to get rid of the curtains and put up blinds.

 

But since the hole in the wall had to be fixed, and fixing it would make the hole bigger temporarily, the wallpaper had to come off. It was ugly, so we removed it from all 4 walls of the room, not just the one the window was on.

 

Then we saw that the wallpaper had been put up badly and the wall surface was a mess. The walls had to be fixed (I don't know the term for that; It wasn't plaster) and then painted.

 

We ended up having to move out of the house for 3 days while the walls were done.

 

The night after we returned home to our freshly-painted dining room, entry, and hallway (because once you start painting walls, may as well do the adjacent walls too, right?) our son projectile vomited all over the wall in the hallways outside his bedroom door.

I am so sorry to say I laughed! And I hope it’s been long enough that you laugh at it!

 

I have 1 side of a curtain rod hanger thing that will not stay flush to the wall. It keeps bowing in the middle. I got the heavy duty ones and installed a center support so my extra kids can have the job of opening and closing the curtains, but the one side will just not stay put. Next time I get the ladder out, im probably going to stick a nail through it.

[Rosika]

My father is a contractor, so home repair drama is normal for me. My son’s father is a plumber, and my cousin is an electrician. If I have an issue, any one of them can walk me through it.

 

This is so fortunate for you!

 

My husband used to joke that he wanted "a basketball team" and we did end up with five kids. I joked that I wanted them to learn skills that would benefit me and us. I figured a general contractor/carpenter, a car mechanic, a lawyer, a nurse or doctor, and then a chef or priest ought to cover most of our needs over the years! I ended up with a sixth, and am realizing the importance of having an HVAC guy on hand ....  :svengo:

[amo_mea_filiis.]

So the truck is towed to this garage a town over. I wait several hours, and then give him a call to see how it’s going.

 

Yeah, he’ll get to it sometime this week.

 

Seriously?!

 

Had he texted the address last night like I asked, I could have had it towed first thing in the morning. Or even better, had he communicated early yesterday, while I thought he was out getting a Uhaul trailer, that the tow was necessary, it would have been towed then!

 

Before today’s tow, had he communicated that it would be “sometime this week,†I would have said never mind and my friend could have done it tomorrow! I only turned my friend down because it was supposed to be done yesterday and I needed it tomorrow.

 

I paid him prior to the labor in the hopes that he would consider a paid job a priority, and because I know this is not the easiest thing to do.

 

Now I’ll be spending more money to put gas in a friend’s car that I’ll be borrowing to take other people’s children to the dr all week. And I guarantee this guy will not put back all the gas he has to siphon out because of course my fuel pump died with 3/4 full gas tank. Couldn’t die during the 99% of the time it’s running at 1/4, which probably contributed to its death.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I still don’t have my vehicle.

 

He got the fuel pump in and it started and ran great. Until he noticed something leaking.

 

That something was the radiator. Gave him the money yesterday for one from the junk yard, and I was supposed to have the truck back today.

 

The radiator was not cracked or leaking last I knew. The truck generally runs great.

 

I called twice and texted a few times. Nothing.

 

His mom is here tomorrow, and if I don’t hear from him by then, I’ll have to bring it up.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

My truck is home!!!

 

$230 repair gone crazy, but spent a little less than I would have at a shop.