Update

So miraculously, we got the entire plumbing job done today. I have a feeling that there is not a lot of work to be had for people like plumbers and carpenters and other contractor-type people given the economy.

The plumbers ripped open the wall (*sigh*) and found the crack in our sewage pipe. The pipe was cast iron, rusted, and about as thin as a piece of paper. This was because it was 90 years old. Water degrades cast iron after a while, and they very rarely put cast iron pipes in houses any more. According to the plumber, they've used PCV pipes for sewage since the 1950's. So the crack was about 3 inches long. They pulled the pipe out and replaced it with a white PCV pipe.

There was some talk that they were also going to have to go into our ceiling to replace the last part of the cast iron pipe. They speculated that it could very well be in as bad shape as the piece they pulled out. But that would've been a big job and there was no evidence that this part of the pipe was bad. It'll probably give way next year, with our luck.

So now we have to have our trusty contractor, Joe, come in to fix the wall. It's funny how the downstairs is looking a little like it did last year, before our walls were fixed. I have a friend coming over on Tuesday for lunch and I was looking forward to showing her all the improvements to our house, since she hasn't been here in a while. Now she's going to be wondering what I'm talking about, with the hole "still" there. :)