Bellingham's One Day of Winter

 

I was only stuck for a few minutes, just long enough for the working-at-home-desperately-needing-a-distraction crowd to gawk at me.

12/23/2020 Barkley Village

Bellingham garbage disposer turns into a bigger job....

 This is a kitchen in a inherited-rental-soon-to-be-sold Bellingham house.

Yep, needs replacing pretty soon.

New disposer and drains..

and new sink, faucet, and air gap!

Barkley Plumbing has joined the Chamber of Commerce!

I don't know what's going on with Chrome, but just select the link and go to the Chamber...

https://business.bellingham.com/list/member/barkley-plumbing-5095183

Plumbing Discount Mailer

 Wow!

I received a slick oversized postcard from a local heating company through the mail today.

"Tankless water heater: $400.00 off plus a free disposer!"

    Okay, let's look at that. A total of almost $1,000.00 discount, if they replace my really nice disposer and my tank-type warhorse of a water heater (as if...) with a high maintenance, energy and water-wasting tankless-type water heater.

    How much are they overcharging to begin with? If I gave that much back on any job, I'd be paying you.

"$200.00 off water heater replacement"

    Ya gotta wonder about the quality of the materials and the final price of the job. Water heaters are practically a break-even job for me, so discounting $200.00, I'd make more money not working.

    The postcard goes on and on, but you get the drift.

Bellingham Kitchen Sink

 
Welcome to my world. 

Bellingham Kitchen Sink

Bellingham Kitchen Utility Sink

 Per the Lady of the House, I installed a plastic utility sink in a kitchen that's going through a extensive remodel. The remodel started when the dishwasher water line started dripping and destroyed the floor in a 20' x 15' section.

What's so great is that installing a temporary sink--a throw away, really--never occurred to me or in the many remodels I've seen. Most people will use the bathroom to wash dishes...for weeks.

Brilliant lady, she is!

Bellingham Herald

Bellingham without a local newspaper? It's becoming a reality. 

Please donate to the Herald: 

Bellingham Herald Relief Fund

Bellingham Ceiling Leak

 Most of the ceiling leak jobs are from discolored ceilings. Once in a while, it's really obvious...

Bellingham plumbing

Covid-related toilet death

 Frustration and anxiety fueled by hamburgers and beer can be destructive. Just don't take it out on local businesses, okay?

Vandalized Barkley toilet

New Barkley toilet

New Bellingham Plumbing Office

It's a work-in-progress, kinda like my house...15 years later.

Office Address: 3876 Hannegan Rd. Bldg. 1, #109 Bellingham, Wa 98226

Hours

Monday-Friday: 8:00am-4:30pm.
Closed: Saturday and Sunday.

Contact

360-647-2255

info@barkleyplumbing.net

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 31665, Bellingham, WA. 98228

Bellingham Plumbers

 This shower drain was leaking through the ceiling. The 20' high ceiling. Luckily, the previous owner cut out the ceiling and tacked up a piece of painted cardboard. No lie.

Leaking Bellingham Wa shower drain

I replaced the shower drain and a short piece of pipe and the new homeowner was making calls to a drywaller to get the ceiling professional done.

New Bellingham Wa shower drain

Bellingham Covid Sewer

 This was done during the height of the pandemic scare. To say everyone--from the city to the team--was distracted by events is a huge understatement. 

It was particularly bad because my sinuses were in full revolt. I freaked out the team and homeowners.

Masks are difficult when you're breaking up six tons of 75 year old concrete, so it was bad all the way around.

It'll last 50 years or more (the sewer, not my sinus condition), so all's well that ends well.

Pretending it is the New Normal

 Here's a few pictures of recent jobs. 

Bellingham Wa. Water Heater

This was a funny one to me. My work is the left one and another company is on the right. Not all companies are the same.

What a difference six months makes...

 Different world out there, isn't it. 

Never shake hands with a plumber...

I've said that how many times in my long career?

Nothing will change in my work habits because I've always taken care of myself and my customers.

As best I can, at any rate.

Remember that your plumber is a human, too.  We're every bit affected by the local and federal events as our customers. To say we're distracted by recent events, our homes, and our workplace dangers is putting it mildly.

Cut your plumber some slack in the coming months. We're trying the best we can, too.

Tipping my cap to all the home service industries. Cops, too. Can't imagine their worries....

A few things that I see on a daily basis.

Bellingham sewer clean out

Bellingham telephone line

Ferndale Wa utilities

Website address change

I've switched the Google listing website from the old ballplumbing.net to the new barkleyplumbing.net.

Ballplumbing.net will still exist on the web and this blog will still be under the ballplumbing name, but that's about it for actively using the Ball name. I doubt ballplumbing.net will be updated. I've a hard enough time keeping all this in motion.

I still think it's a great name, Ball. George Washington's mother's maiden name was Ball, for Goodness Sake.

Barkley Plumbing is dba under Ball Plumbing Services, LLC, still.

Price Increase

Wowsers!

Prices of everything are going up!

Why am I whining about it?

I've got to start collecting the $40.00 service charge that's listed on the Prices page. I'm serious this time.

I lowered the multiple item discount to 10%. Still cheap at half the price.