The View From Wisconsin

I love finding out things I never knew about my place... though I could do without the methods of discovery.

The Village of Pewaukee sent one of their meter guys out to put a new water meter in my condo unit. I had no idea where the meter was, but the guy said it's usually right by the water shutoff valve.

That put an "uh oh" on my lips. The water main shutoff is hidden up and behind a panel in my basement - one that is nailed shut on the wall.

I discovered that this framed section of the paneling in the basement was for just that specific purpose - to allow access to the meter and water main valves.

Unfortunately, that meant having to take the "framed" pieces off of the wall to allow the panel to slide out. And, as is typical when you're de-constructing things, something ends up breaking. That's exactly what happened to the lower piece of the frame. It snapped right in two as we were prying it off the wall.

The new meter is in and everything's okay (for now). I'm going to see if perhaps somewhere down the road I could just make a door where the panel is currently located, so it could just be opened and shut as needed.