TimesToCome

Houses in New England do not come with spare bathrooms. The Victorians from 1900 and homes older than those came with no bathrooms originally. Some where along the way a porch got boxed in and a small bedroom was converted to add in a couple of bathrooms.

The ranches and capes of the 50s and 60s came with a bathroom and no room for more.

Later built homes came with two, sometimes three bathrooms. If you run across a home with more bathrooms than that it was because someone had moved in from out of state and brought plans with him.

Down here in Houston homes typically have three bathrooms and many have five or more.

What this means is that you have bathrooms that rarely get used. Something that just doesn’t happen in New England.

Now I know a fair bit of plumbing, anyone who’s owned a Victorian knows a fair bit about all home repairs. Yet it took a while for things to click. All sinks, showers, tubs have a trap in the pipe under the drain. This is just a ‘U’ or in a very old home ‘S’ shaped section of the pipe. This traps water in the bend of the pipe. The water then prevents sewer gases from rising into the home.

Last week I noticed an odor in the first floor bath. Over the week every thing was removed, everything not removable was scrubbed with bleach. Still the odor was there. Faint but unmissable.

It did not occur to me that a drain trap would be empty. We just don’t have unused bathrooms back home. Sure enough a bit of water in the drain fixed the problem. The shower had sat two years with out use.

So if you are moving down to Houston from somewhere up north remember to run some water in your spare showers, tubs and sinks once a month or so and keep that trap full.