The Shower
Do you enjoy a shower?
I certainly do, in fact - I struggle to start my day, be productive or even exist without the watery warm embrace of a morning dowsing.
- Problem>
The cost of renting a residential property in Sydney Australia is so great that it is nigh impossible to live in structure that contains a roof, running water and electricity without the need to split the expense with another, this usually means that you either attempt to live with someone you know such as a friend or family member "usually with disastrous results" or simply accept the least threatening stranger that comes across your advertisement on public forums.
My situation is the latter, living with someone that I have no formal agreement with nor do I have any nature of pre-existing relationship. These situations can go in various directions but eventually, some form of hierarchical structure generally develops in an organic fashion and the course of nature plays its due until a point that one or more members become dissatisfied with the situation to a point that they wish to find alternate living arrangements or confront the situation at hand.
- The Situation>
The stranger of my choosing designated to contribute to the bills of my home in exchange for having somewhere to sleep decided to carefully monitor my morning routine and find the precise moment to engage the bathroom thus preventing myself from starting my morning ritual prior to embarking to work.
Note: this particular individual has not a job, place of education nor any place to be at any time - therefor the systematic thievery of my morning shower is seen as nothing less than a power play move of the dickiest nature.
- Solution>
Several options exist to deal with such a situation in a seemingly 'adult' fashion however after much thought, each seemed to involve far to much talking, effort and consequences (heck, I only see the guy once a day if I'm lucky and I am pretty sure that any form of confrontation may drive this individual to kill themselves) and so my investigation began.
The plumbing of this house, how does it work? Well, it so happens that the incredibly tiny hot water system originates from underneath a kitchen counter and slowly snakes its way past the house's external laundry before running the length of the house and eventually feeding into the bathroom. So, would it not seem logical to simply intercept the much sort after hot water prior to it entering the realms of the internal bathroom? Regardless, that is the route which I decided to opt for.
- Implementation>
Re-route the water line entering the laundry which is usually reserved for a washing machine, relocate a water source for the washing machine from available auxiliary laundry tub taps, install a kitchen mixer style tap fitting salvaged from recent neighbor renovations, find means of allowing water flow in a broken baby shower rig connected to a length of garden hose with hose clamps and a section of aluminum tube which finally leads into a hand formed copper tube coil recycled from a previous distillation project finished with approximately thirty-five 1mm holes drilled at angles to provide the greatest coverage whilst retaining maximum water pressure balanced beautifully in consideration of the limited amount of hot water thus practicing a conservative effort to ensure longer shower times.
BONUS: Tiles missing from the laundry floor's surface re-grouted and replaced with the only available "viable" resource ~ Coins that I have received as change due to lack of attention and serve no function other than taking up valuable savings jar space. I have LITERALLY put money into this repair.
