Water, Water Everywhere

Well, water is not our friend. First it was the rain now it is the leaky  plumbing....Dick keeps saying "YOU wanted this old house- it has lots of old problems" Yeah, like I keep forgetting - ha! We had an inspection, which I always advise my clients to do, but when it says "various leaks in pressure lines" on reports, be careful!! We had our regular plumber, George, come and fix all the faucets that were broken, replace the water heater, which we knew was at least 12 years old, the exterior faucets, the bath drains, etc. but George REALLY didn't want to crawl under the house to look for any leaks. Did I mention this is a 90 year old house built on bois d'arc (pronounced bo-dark) posts?  Early settlers found these Bois D'Arc trees native to the area and found they were impervious to termites and decay. No concrete slab here.....all the duct work, plumbing, wiring, etc. is suspended under the home. So, that should make it easier to get to I think, right?  George didn't think so...he said, " I'm an older guy, and what if I died under there and no one thought to come get me? I could be stuck under there for 3 days!"  Well, I didn't want that to happen, so I let George off the hook. I was lucky to have an old high school friend who was building in the area give me some names of local guys who could come to the rescue. Only problem now is the pipes have been leaking for God knows how long and it is wet underneath the house. The new plumber tells me I have to turn off all the water to the house and let it dry out. Ok......how long will this take?  I also met with two foundation companies to get a bid on stabilizing the foundation piers and they also confirmed the wet areas.  Everything hinges on the plumbing getting fixed first, so now we wait. Patience, Jane!