Bumpy Roads of Gas and Heat

Feels like forever since we did an update and it is kinda depressing to see that the to do list stayed about the same for most of this time until about this last week. The main reason for this is the bump that we hit due to the gas line test. We scheduled our first gas test at the beginning of Oct. and when the test was completed we got the “wonderful news” (note the sarcasm) that we had a leak somewhere in the house. It took a couple weeks for me to track down the leak and about a day to fix it. It turned out that the leak was in the wall of our master bedroom. Apparently the issue was that when they built our house back in the 70s they did not insulate the main gas line where it comes into the house so, when they laid the brick the mortar was right up against the line and over the last 30 something years the acid from the mortar eventually ate a small hole in the line. Once we replaced that pipe and had them redo the test we got the awesome news that we passed.

So “what’s next?” you might ask. Well the next thing is the heater. I just had a guy come out today to check the system so that we can say that it is safe to operate in the “harsh winters” of Houston and guess what we just got the news that we have another bump. Turns out that our heater is 39 years old and therefore is “beyond it’s useful life and needs to be replaced”. So now I have to get estimates to replace the heat system. The first estimate is $2275 but they will be nice and take the $75 fee that I just paid for them to check the system out of that. UGH! 

Now is not the time to shut down and quit. Now is the time to “get r done” lol. The thing that really does make me sad though is that we had hoped to be licensed by Christmas and now I truly don’t see anyway that can happen. But as they say, “all things in His time” there is a plan for it all and who knows maybe God’s plan all along was that we would first not blow up from gas, second not die from carbon monoxide poisoning/fire caused by the heater, and third that we would have a child to love and care for. Just because we want to jump to #3 does not mean that we need to ignore 1-2. After all 1-2 are kinda important. 

Updated to do list in no particular order: 1: finish cleaning the house and taking pictures (inside and out) 

2: replace the heat system 

3: have fire marshal come out and do fire inspection (must be done after heater) 

4: schedule home study (must be done last)