What's behind wall number one?

Finally made it to go see Slumdog Millionaire and came home to find an object like this on our front porch:



accompanied by a note and business card. The gist of the letter was that some contractors were working on the house next door and heard water running next door (that would be our house). They came to investigate and saw water pouring out of the basement door.

After realizing no one was home, this very nice man used that thingamabob pictured above (also known as a water valve key) to turn off the water to our house to stop the river running out the door. The contractor and his twin brother then came over and helped us identify the pipe running to the area where the leak was very obviously occurring.

Discovery #1:

The previous owner decided putting in valves that would allow you to turn off water to only parts of the house wasn't necessary. The contractors sadly told us we would have to tear out drywall to get to the problem area.

They helped us move extra drywall away from the wall, told us what we would have to do and then headed out. {{Thank you wonder twins! They didn't have to help us, but they did.}}

Note: Previous owner of house will henceforth be referred to as Dumbass. This isn't an arbitrary pejorative and grounds for using aforementioned "Dumbass" reference will become more clear and justified after Discovery #2 and Discovery #3.

Discovery #2:

I realize construction workers have this inclination to put empty beer cans, Styrofoam containers and various other sundry behind walls and below floors of buildings they, well, build. I don't get it, but they do.

But why would you do this in your own home? I repeat, why?

The following picture is what we found behind wall number 1.



In case the jumble is too much for your brain to process, those are umpteen empty buckets of mudding compound, pieces of drywall and old pieces of wood stacked neck high.

These were all - of course - soaking wet at this point. Remember the pipe? We hauled this stuff out the door to get to the pipe.

{Did I mention I am snotty sick?}

Dumbass.

Discovery #3:

After moving all of the junk aside, we found the crack in the pipe (a frozen chunk sluiced out when Mr. BITH disconnected it). This pipe was leading to a spigot on the outside. Guess what? No insulation on pipe. None. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

Dumbass.

Mr. BITH headed to Lowe's, got some materials and came home to fix the pipe. My hero :)

Lesson learned? We are pretty much resigned to the fact that DIY Dumbass = do over of drywall, electric and HVAC in the basement.

Can't wait to find what else DIY Dumbass decided to put behind the walls instead of renting a dumpster. Wait, DIY Dumbass is also a Cheapass?!

I guess that is Discovery #4.

P.S. Guess what Mr. BITH found in the basement the next day while cleaning up? Insulation for pvc piping. Not anywhere on the pipes of course. Dumbass.