06 Day 018:
Nicolette descended the narrow staircase into the living room, surveying the scene. The place was, without question, a mess. Piles of clutter, peeling paint, and scattered debris gave it a distinctly neglected feel. Still, for two hundred bucks a month and half the utilities, she figured she could live with the mess for six months. The lack of a working toilet, however, didn’t inspire the same enthusiasm.
“Is it electric or gas?... Is there a large breaker box for it, or a pipe that runs into the ceiling above it?” Jake was saying into his phone, leaning against the counter as he spoke. Nicolette wandered over to the large front window, absently gazing out at the houses across the street while half-listening to his conversation.
“And there’s nothing wrong with the old one?... Okay. I’d call the local home improvement store, tell them exactly what you need, and make sure they know it’s electric and what the breaker size is… Right, double 40… Yep. Have them deliver it and send me a message. I’ll do it for a hundred bucks and the old one… Yes… I really need one right now, so it’s a win-win… Right… Talk to you later… Yeah, thanks.”
Jake ended the call and looked up at her. “Well?”
“Sure is a mess,” Nicolette replied, folding her arms.
“Yeah.”
“What about the water?” she asked.
Jake pointed to the table piled high with tubes and a bucket of tools. “I’ll get cold water running today. Hot water might take a bit longer.”
Nicolette gave a measured nod. As long as the toilet and sink worked, she could deal with the rest of the mess. It wasn’t ideal, but it meant she could spend her money on a real bed instead of saving up for an overpriced apartment.
“You get the toilet and sink working, and I’m in.”
“All-righty,” Jake said, grabbing the bucket and the tubes. He made his way to a nearby closet, opening it to reveal a narrow set of stairs leading down into a dingy-looking basement.
“Want some help?” Nicolette offered. She’d already finished work for the day and had the evening free from her second job.
Jake paused, then shrugged. “I won’t say no. It’ll definitely go faster with someone to hold the light.”
Once they were both under the house, Jake dropped the tubes onto the ground and handed Nicolette a flashlight. She expected him to follow the network of pipes above their heads, but instead, he made his way over to the electrical box. Nicolette almost giggled at the way Jake had to duck his head to avoid the low ceiling but managed to hold it in. The tips of her horns barely missed a low-hanging pipe, and she realized that being a bit too tall could be just as inconvenient as being a bit too short in a space like this.
“See this wire?” Jake said, pointing at a thick copper wire that lacked the usual plastic insulation. “We’re looking for where it connects to the pipes.”
“Why would it connect to a pipe?” Nicolette asked, puzzled. Common sense told her that electricity and water weren’t exactly a safe combination.
“It grounds the system,” Jake explained. “They don’t do it this way anymore, but it was common in older houses.”
“Is that it?” Nicolette asked, aiming the flashlight at a spot where the copper wire was clamped onto a pipe.
“That’s it. Now let’s follow the pipe back to the main shutoff. We just need to make sure everything’s properly connected.”
They carefully made their way along the pipe, which grew thicker as they moved closer to the main waterline. The space was cramped, and Nicolette had to crouch awkwardly, mindful of the uneven dirt floor and low-hanging obstacles.
“Good. No problems there,” Jake said with a nod, satisfied as they reached the main shutoff valve.
Jake placed a small red tool onto the pipe above the valve, tightened the screw mechanism, and began rotating it around the pipe.
“What are you doing?” Nicolette asked, watching curiously.
“Cutting the pipe. Can you find the sandpaper? Should be in the bucket somewhere.”
Nicolette rummaged through the bucket, pulling out various tools she didn’t recognize until she finally found the sandpaper. Meanwhile, Jake finished cutting through the pipe, the two sections snapping apart cleanly. He took the sandpaper and rubbed the lower end of the cut pipe until it gleamed.
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Once the pipe was cleaned, Jake pressed a small coupling with brass ends onto the freshly sanded pipe. “I need those clamps now.”
“Clamps?” Nicolette asked, glancing into the bucket.
Jake leaned over, pulling out two copper clamps and a small roll of the thick copper wire that ran from the electrical box to the pipes. He clamped one end of the wire to the lower section of the pipe and the other end to the section he had just cut. “We need to keep the electrical system grounded properly.”
Nicolette nodded in acknowledgment, though he couldn’t see her with the flashlight pointed elsewhere.
“Okay, now we take this three-quarter inch pipe,” Jake said, picking up a roll of blue tubing and walking over to the damaged water heater. “Can you hold this while I run it over the existing pipes?”
Nicolette grabbed the roll as Jake took the end, threading it over and around the old pipes. She unraveled the tubing as he worked his way back to the water valve, where he shoved the tube into the coupling he had installed earlier.
“Alright, can you dig my finger cutters out of the bucket?” Jake asked as he grabbed a brass fitting from its packaging.
“Finger cutters?” Nicolette repeated, hoping that wasn’t what the tool was actually called.
Jake chuckled. “They’re red, with a large blade on one side.”
She found the tool and handed it to him, eyeing it warily—it did look like it could take a finger off. Jake snipped the blue tubing effortlessly, the tool cutting through it like warm butter.
“Okay, this is a three-quarter inch ring,” he said, holding up a black metal piece that resembled a crude ring. “I’ll need another one in a minute.”
Jake slid the ring onto the tube, shoved the brass fitting into the open end, and used a large, pliers-like tool to crimp the ring tightly in place. “Ring, please.”
Nicolette handed him another ring, and he repeated the process on the other side of the fitting, securing it firmly.
“Why’d you cut the pipe just to clamp it back together?” she asked, frowning slightly.
Jake rotated the fitting, pointing to a smaller branch extending from it. “This line goes to the kitchen sink.”
“Ah, I didn’t see that side,” Nicolette said, nodding in understanding.
Nicolette followed Jake back to the other end of the basement, where he attached a similar fitting to the pipe, finishing it off with a valve. They then ran a thinner blue tube from the fitting toward the bathtub area.
“Can you go upstairs? Next to the toilet is this pipe.” He tapped the copper pipe he was working on. “Pull it out and put the blue one I have up there through the same hole.”
Nicolette gave him a quick nod and a word of acknowledgment before heading up to the main floor. She located the pipe next to the toilet and carefully pulled it out, replacing it with the blue tube Jake had left next to the hole. “Do you want me to come back down?” she called out through the floor.
“No, one minute… Open the vanity.”
Nicolette moved over to the sink cabinet and opened the doors. One of the pipes beneath the sink was shifting. A moment later, it fell loose before being pushed back up from below.
“Can you grab that?” Jake’s muffled voice came from beneath the floor.
Nicolette complied, pulling the old pipe out. She was momentarily surprised when a blue pipe snaked up from underneath, neatly replacing the old one. She held it steady as Jake secured it from below. The next pipe over started moving, and she pulled it out when it came loose. This time, however, no new pipe appeared to replace it. She waited a moment, but no further instructions came. She met Jake at the stairs just as he was coming up. “What’s next?” she asked.
Jake rubbed the back of his neck, glancing around. “Hmm, wanna start unpacking that box?” He pointed to a large cardboard box with a picture of a toilet on it. “The old one’s probably fine, but that’s not something I want to gamble on.”
Nearly as soon as Nicolette had unpacked all the small toilet components and laid them out neatly on the kitchen table, Jake came through carrying half of the old toilet. “Door, please,” he grunted.
Nicolette quickly opened the door, and Jake hauled the old toilet outside before grabbing the new porcelain throne on his way back in. “That small box there—grab that,” he said, nodding toward a smaller package with additional parts.
Jake scraped away a disgusting, goopy residue from the waste pipe before opening the small box and pulling out a new wax ring. He pressed the fresh ring onto the base of the new toilet bowl, rotated it to line up with the bolts, and carefully set it down over the hole, pressing down to create a seal. Once it was in place, he began tightening the bolts to secure it.
“Wanna grab the tank and the bag of hardware?” Jake asked.
“Yeah, sure,” Nicolette replied, grabbing the tank and the bag of parts from the kitchen table.
With the tank mounted, they connected a tube to the pipe they had installed earlier, and Jake assembled the flushing mechanism. He carefully turned on the water, while Nicolette stayed upstairs with instructions to yell if anything started spraying water.
To their relief, everything stayed dry. They both watched as the toilet filled up and flushed properly. Jake gave the pipes a final inspection, checking for any leaks.
“All right. A few more fittings, and I’ll have the sinks working,” Jake said, satisfied.
“Get me the ability to take a hot shower, and I’ll blow you,” Nicolette joked with a smirk.
Jake laughed. “Don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep. I was just talking to a guy who wants his water heater replaced. The old one still works—it’s just too small. On that note, would you be willing to drive there and help me haul it back here? I can’t exactly carry a water heater down the street.”
Nicolette chuckled at the mental image of Jake struggling with a bulky water heater on the sidewalk. “Yeah, sure. If it gets me a shower here instead of at the gym, I’m in.”