Bellingham Crawlspaces

 More often than not, access points for plumbing installations and repairs are a bit of a squeeze! Our plumbers embrace the unique spaces we encounter on the job here in Bellingham so that homeowners don't have to. 

Water Heater Installation in Small Bellingham Crawlspace

 Below is a great example of the interesting spaces we see in households serviced by the Barkley Plumbers! Bellingham is notorious for its beautiful and well-kept homes that were constructed in the 18 and 1900s, and our plumbers take pride in keeping these homes safe from water damage so that we can admire them for decades to come!

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.

DIY water leak in Mt. Vernon, Wa

This was in a commercial building--a vacant apartment--in a large complex in Mt. Vernon, Wa. The owner and his Maintenance Minions (just kidding) tried to take a short cut as shown in picture. Their repair leaked over a few days and destroyed the wall.

I repaired the pipe and replaced the angle stop within 45 minutes. I didn't get an after picture as the owner wanted me to go to his house to do some work.

Christmas water heater in Sudden Valley

Last Christmas Eve, I had this emergency plumbing call from an old customer. The unit was in the finished basement (stuffed full of WWU students) and was in a very cramped space.

This is the new water heater and is installed to code. I did have to add a shut-off,  as there wasn't one.

Cat and the Water Heater

Saturday was a busy day ending in a strange way. I had an emergency water heater replacement in the late afternoon in the Silver Beach area and by the time I was finished with my Bandito burrito it was close to 7:30 pm. Typical day in the life, right? Nope.

At 7:35 pm, I get a call from a frantic fellow about a cat and a water heater in a apartment complex off of Sunset. I told him the cat will come out when its ready and not before, but that wasn't the problem. The gentleman finally conveyed to me that his cat was stuck and Whatcom Humane Society has been there for hours and if I didn't want to help he'd call someone else.

It was too good to pass up. I was there in 15 minutes.

What happened: the gentleman and his wife were moving into the new apartment and their cat freaked, jumped onto the water heater, saw a space behind the heater and jumped down. Problem was that the space was very narrow and there wasn't a way out except up. The cat was stuck upside down between the water heater and the corner of the water heater closet. For 4 hours.

I shut down the water, power, and cut the overflow pipe and ever-so-gently, edged this 50 gallon water heater away from the walls allowing the cat to escape.

It was a very happy cat. And I was a hero...until they got the bill.

For the record, I have 3 cats, 2 of which came from the shelter. I'll probably donate the "cat money" to the Whatcom Humane Society as I missed my annual donantion in 2008.

Bellingham garbage...disposers

Sometimes I get runs of certain jobs for no reason other than I get called to do it.

I had three garbage disposers today: Sudden Valley, Fairhaven, and Blaine. Since I carry two types of Insinkerator (but these three customers wanted the same model), I had to go and pick up two more at two different times.

A few months ago, I had a run of water heaters---two a day for 3 weeks---the supply house still talks about that!

Quiet Day...for once!

The yellow page ad problem got resolved with a 25% reduction, which is fair considering all my proof mysteriously disappeared.

I had a water heater in Bellingham that was dripping out of the drain valve. Not too bad, if it was caught a month ago. Unfortunately, the drip rotted the wood stand and the 800 lb. water heater fell through to the garage floor. Luckily, the gas was off because the house was just sold!

Good Plumber here

Another day driving from one end of Whatcom county to the other. At least the weather is nice.

I did a quick water heater repair in Glacier, WA. The connectors corroded right through so I unsoldered and then soldered on new connectors.

From there I went to Fairhaven, WA. to clear a washing machine drain line stoppage. Easy enough, but the drain didn't have a trap! I added one easily enough (for me), but there should have been one there. DIYers cause a lot of damage and usually spend more in the short run.

Not that I can blame 'em. This homeowner had called another plumber out of the phone book, (small ad, big promises) and the plumber quoted him some outlandish fix for a weird price. Luckily, the homeowner had the sense to call us.

I think my motto "Honest, Reliable, Local" will get painted on the truck.

Plumbing

A Grand Dame of Fairhaven, WA (95-year-old Lady) had broken a very valuable glass and most of it went down her disposal. She wasn't amused when it took me less than a minute to repair it, but at least I was able to salvage the unit, if not put the glass back together. I hope I'm as active, good-looking, and richer than her at 95. Well, I can sure rule out good-looking....:)

Did a water heater in Blaine, WA today. Darn thing was only 9 years old and the tank gave out. Of course, the homeowners were on vacation when it blew out, so the garage walls were damaged. It was a 50 gallon Bradford White water heater and I replaced it with the same. Not much choice up here for brands.

From there, I went to Sedro-Woolley, WA to a mobile home that had a broken PVC water main under the house. It took longer for the glue to dry than anything. Darn PVC, anyway.

So I went to a millionaire to a border town to a mobile home in a logging town....such is the life of a plumber!