The Aerie
It started off fairly predictably. Returning home from a hard day's work the house smelled like paint. A contractor has been here for several days painting the boys' bedroom, so this was not a big surprise.
What was a surprise was the smell of propane in the kitchen.
The first day this happened, I put it down to some unusual paint smell. After keeping an eye (or nostril) open to see that it didn't continue or recur, put it out of my mind.
The next day the contractor did not come by, but the same thing happened. The smell seemed to be related to the oven being run. The smell wasn't as bad as the previous day, so again I forgot about it.
Yesterday the smell came back along with the contractor. I was wondering whether to call somebody when I walked into my basement office and the smell hit me in the face. In the basement?
We called the Gas Company. It used to be called "Minnegasco" which pretty clearly said what it was and what it did. Now it's called something else entirely, I can't even remember what. But we called and very shortly they arrived.
The fellow looked things over and explained what was happening: paint fumes were getting into the return-air duct of the furnace, and building up inside the oven, and then when either of them lit up the fumes burned, producing a smell like propane gas. Nothing to worry about.
But while he was poking around, I asked him to check out the red tag hanging on a pipe above the water heater.
Oh, he said, that's a gas leak. Legally, I have to turn off your house now.
Clunk.
No gas.
No furnace, no water heater, no stove. Nuthin'.
So bright and early this morning we called the plumber, who I must say was also very prompt in arriving. By 9:30 he had identified the problem, and several hundred dollars later all was once again restored to normal. Since he was visiting, I also had him fix the leaky faucet in the shower, too.
Since otherwise I would have had to do it, that was worth half the price to me right there!