The joys of home ownership

While the city wrestles with its water challenges, we had our own problems at our honeymoon cottage on Cayuga Street.

After noticing a small wet spot in our front yard, we called Trent Werner of Schaller, who specializes in this sort of thing, to come investigate. At first we suspected it was the water shutoff between the street and the house that was at fault, but it turned out to be more than that. The line to the house had to be replaced.

Many of the homes in the central part of Storm Lake are 100 years or more old. Ours is the kid on the block at the tender age of 99. It’s the second home to occupy this location. All of these homes are connected to the city main with iron pipes that have been in the ground for more than a century. Over time, they tend to corrode and leak. Some cities, like Flint, Mich., have lead pipes that have sickened people, especially children. These must be replaced.

We anticipated that something like this might happen after several other homes in the neighborhood replaced their leaking water lines in recent years. The solution is to dig down more than five feet, below the frost line, and replace them with modern plastic pipes that won’t corrode.

Our pipe ran from the street underneath the house to its back side, making it impossible to access. Trent had to bury a new line which enters the house from the more accessible south side. It was a two-day job but we were only out of water for a few hours.

Our yard now looks like a giant mole has burrowed a tunnel, and we’ll have to let that dirt mound settle back into the trench until next spring when we can landscape it back to normal.

Replacing a water line isn’t cheap. Fortunately, our homeowners insurance includes coverage for underground utilities at a cost of only $15 per year. I would advise every homeowner, especially for older properties, to include this coverage. I wasn’t even sure we had this coverage but our insurance agent said they include it on just about every policy because it’s a no-brainer.

About 15 years ago many Storm Lake homeowners also had issues with pinhole leaks developing in the copper water pipes inside their homes. Chemical reactions with chlorine added at the water treatment plant were suspected as the cause but homeowners were on their own for repairs.