Author's note: Your regular 'Random Act of Thursday' will not be seen today. Instead we bring you the following heartwarming tale of home maintenance.
I hate the smell of sewage in the morning. Smells like…failure.
Lori called me yesterday to tell me that the dishwasher had backwashed and flooded the sink cabinet with its leavings, thanks to some previously inept plumbing work. I touched the hose from the dishwasher to the disposal, which promptly fell off the disposal into my hand. I tapped the sink trap, which promptly dropped from the disposer and out of the wall.
We’ve been fighting with a minor clog for a while now, but I couldn’t figure out how one side of the sink would work just fine, and the other did its best to attract mosquito larvae by standing for long periods of time. I tried fixing this myself yesterday, and finally broke down and called the plumber when my 'Junior Plumber Fix-It Kit' snake couldn’t get past the resistance in the drain.
This is not the first time we’ve had to call a plumber for this sink - click here for last year’s saga.
Forty feet of professional drain snake later, the sink was draining, swirling away all Coreolus-like, and all was well with the world. I managed to scrub the stink of failure (and sewage) from my hands, cough up $175 for his time, and went to sleep thinking we were groovy. 
Cut to this morning, nice hot shower, refreshing, new day has dawned, and the like. However, when I opened the shower curtain, I saw the lake where once was our bathroom floor. The water going down the shower drain was forcing its way back up through both toilets and running over the wax rings. Sixty feet of larger scale professional drain snake from the street (and $200) later, we can once again flush with minimal trepidation. Ah, the joys of home ownership.
Can’t you just hear Wagner playing in the background?
9 comments:
Damn! I hate all things plumbing related. For some reason - if it's wet, it's nasty. I hope this is the end of your trials and tribulations!
If it makes you feel any better, my transmission went out this morning.
ahhh and my brakes went out yesterday... but still, that sucks! I'm glad you finally got it fixed and didn't have to live in a lake.
Ugh, that sucks! I leave things like plumbing and electricity to the pros, so good for you for giving it a shot!
I'd love to regale you and Lori with sad tragic tales of my previous plumbing woes, but they won't make yours any more pleasant or less expensive. Let's just say, at this moment in my life, I am content with renting.
You have my sympathies.
We finally invested in a sewer auger because we got sick of renting one from the local Grand Rental store. We have a terminal case of tree roots in the line, and have replaced the whole line under the foundation, and from the front steps to the street. There is a 3 foot section of old clay pipe that is under the steps that we were unable to access, and guess where the roots are? The sewer rules in this house are:
1) Only back up on a weekend when the plumber charges assrape amounts and
2) Bonus points for backing up in the middle of the night while the water softener is recycling OR while doing laundry.
Homeownership can sometimes suck, but the alternative would be a landlord who doesn't give a crap, I guess. Hope you have all of your water problems fixed for good!
wv:turyn...turd's twin sister.
Calico - the up-side of plumbing is that I have a slightly reduced chance of electrocuting myself. Given a choice, though, I'm all about rough carpentry.
Gwen - sorry to hear about the car. Fixed yet? Hopefully it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Carissa - no brakes? I don't imagine you find that out the easy way...
Bev - I try to do as much home repair myself as is possible, Lori only wields veto power when the likelyhood of my death is greater than the potential cost of the repair (you read the snake removal story, right?)
MtnMama - Sometimes renting seems like a great idea, but I always wind up fixing things myself anyway. We'll be renting our next house, I'm almost certain. However, as a former landlord, that side of it sucks, too.
Kris - at least I don't have roots, I don't blame you for the purchase.
Glad to be a renter... so sorry, darlin!
How funny! I am really enjoying your post very much. Thanks for a very nice sharings........
Post a Comment