When we bought our house, we used a VA loan. They go through extra steps to ensure your house is sound. Some people won’t sell to people using the loan because of it. And honestly, sometimes the extra steps can seem a little crazy.
When they did their testing, they almost didn’t allow us to buy the house because of the water. We didn’t understand it at the time, but soon figured it out. They fixed the “stale” water issue with bleach before we moved in, but they were still on the fence due to the hard water issues. We didn’t quite understand.
A few months ago I finally found a water softening company that would actually call me back. (Nice to know business is so good, you can ignore phone calls.) When they tested our water, it was 25/411. For those like us, who those numbers mean nothing, the healthy zone is under 10/180.
WOW!
Which would also explain why everything in our house is crazy crunchy. Including our skin and hair.
We recently finished our spare bathroom renovation. I turned on the water once to test the new fixtures and it stained it with that one use. There was no way I was going to actually use my fancy new bathroom with this issue happening!
But that left me at an impasse. We still have the kitchen and master bath to go, but then wouldn’t be able to use them.
For the last few months I scrimped and saved (kids don’t actually have to be fed right?), and Friday we finally got our water softener installed! A surprise to my dentist man. Part of his Father’s Day gift. He’s been a dad a while. We’re running out of idea’s.
So far it’s been interesting. The first night our normally sweet tasting well water tasted more like the plastic water softener container. That made us a bit worried.
They did tell us to use *a lot* of water over the next 2-3 days, a bit of a challenge since both of the boys remaining in the house left for the week. But the fourth born did what he could before he left.
A few showers and dishwasher and laundry loads later and I’m glad to say the plastic taste is gone. The salty taste still remains. Not like, salt lick salty, more like… “is that salt I taste?” But I think the only reason why we notice, is because we’re used to good flavored water. Something a lot of people don’t have the luxury of. We won’t be complaining. (Our outdoor spigots aren’t connected, so if we’re really desperate for that sweet well water flavor, we can always fill our glass from there.)
I am happy to say though that our showers have been *amazing*! As in, they felt so good we were a bit weirded out when the softened water finally made it through the system. My dentist man came out of his first shower and said “The water feels slippery? Slick?”
Well it’s water… of course it’s slippery?
I took a shower. He was right.
So, can I say I would spend that much money for salty water again? Yes! Our dishwasher is already getting cleaner. Our clothes are already coming out cleaner. And my hair feels amazing! And the fact that we didn’t know water was slippery says a lot about how long we’ve lived with the hard water.
My entire next week will be spent updating the kitchen counter, sink and faucet (back splash will come soon). Finally. Do I know how to party or what?!