A Fix for Our Leaky Hose Faucet

I need to preface this post by saying that we need a new hose, and we’re planning to buy one next Spring.

Our poor basement has been very wet lately.  We have a humidifier down there, and Jim hangs up packets of Damp-Rid which work really well.  But this summer it’s been wetter than normal, mostly due to 4 reasons:

[1] The humidifier hose, which is supposed to drain into the sump-pump hole, was actually laying on the floor causing a constant puddle.  Thankfully hubby spotted it and steered it back into the hole.

[2] The hot water heater has had a slow leak for a couple months, but started majorly leaking earlier this week, including into our cage [my workshop!] and under my new WorkMate table, Shop-Vac, and Whitmor Shelves:

       

Thankfully the water heater was replaced Tuesday, so no more leak!

[3] The foundation leak that always causes our basement cage to get very wet and puddle-y after a rain storm:

      

[4] And this summer the wall to the right of our basement stairs sprung a leak any time the outside garden hose was left on, and took over a week to dry out.  The leak is due to a small hole in the hose up near the top which sprayed a constant stream of mist against the foundation.  Here’s pics from July & August:

       

And a pic from this past weekend:

I’m getting very nervous about mold.  Our neighbors and I have been trying to remember to turn off the hose every time we use it, but that doesn’t always happen.  So after work yesterday I tried to fix it with Teflon Tape.  I had never heard of Teflon Tape until I met hubby.  He’s very smart.  I disconnected the hose from the house and wrapped the thread with Tape:

       

I screwed the hose back on [over the Tape] and turned on the faucet.  Still leaking.  I realized the leak was actually below the connection to the faucet, between the 2 pieces of metal.  So I wrapped that part with Teflon Tape, too:

       

Still leaking.  Not quite as much, but still leaking.  So I pulled out my big gun:  a length of green plastic gutter-extender that I bought at Home Depot a few weeks ago.   I unscrewed the hose, fed it through the piece of gutter-extender, screwed the hose back in, expanded the segments of the extender to a length where the leaking water would run through the tube and be deposited about 3 feet away from the foundation, then used my drill to secure the hose to the house so it wouldn’t slip:

      

The gutter extender runs through part of my neighbor’s garden.  Those plastic mushrooms glow at night – they’re very cool!  You can see in the 2nd pic the cement foundation is a bit wet [as is the dirt] behind the green plastic tube.  That’s from when I was doing my Teflon Tape tests.  Hopefully the tube will alleviate THAT basement leak.  So all that’s left to tackle is the foundation leak in our cage.

Meanwhile, 2 of my hibiscus plants which feature “double flowers” are in full bloom in the yard:

This temporary fix turned into a permanent fix 🙂 There didn’t seem to be any reason to remove the piece of gutter extender. When we buy a new hose [usually every Spring] we just loop it through the piece of gutter extender and reattach the extender piece to the exterior wall of the house.