I’ve now realized that I take drains for granted. I just expect them to drain. No worries, no woes. I’m learning to appreciate a good drain now. After spending two weekends with plumbers in the house, I’m really ready to have it done.
Last Saturday I was cleaning the bathroom toilet and it just wouldn’t flush. (Thank heaven’s there was really nothing in there except clean water or this story would be much more colorful. Perhaps that a disappointment to you though.) As every good woman of independent thought and means, I got out the plunger and plunged. I didn’t work. I called in the DH. He plunged. After we had both plunged to no avail, we realized that water was seeping out from under the toilet every time we did anything. That’s a bad thing, if you were wondering.
Patrick has a plumber friend who happened to be at a party nearby with his plumbing truck. He came over and snaked, replaced the honeycomb seal, and put the toilet back in place. All was well – for a week.
On Friday, the woes came back even better than before. The toilet still flushed, but nothing else seemed to drain. The DH took a shower and I did laundry, and it was a bad combination. I’d noticed the sink in the bathroom not really draining, but that’s fairly common, so I didn’t think much of it. Then the DH took a shower and it didn’t drain at all. And my laundry bubbles started showing up in all the wrong places. We knew it was real drainage woes when that happened.
We called the plumber friend again and he recommended someone to call. For a measly $200, we got the big drain (from the outside) snaked with the really big (think anaconda) snake and now we know why plumbers get paid well. It was gross – not just a little gross, but make-you-want-to-hurl gross. He pulled up things people just shouldn’t have to see. No more details will be given, but I think you can use your imagination and get close enough.
When he was done the shower drained, the toilet flushed, and the washer drained. It was a beautiful thing. Now, two days later, the toilet flushes weird, the shower drains slow, and I’m worried that I get to see a plumber every Saturday for the rest of my life.
3 comments:
I don't mean to frighten you but you need to read Dooce ~http://www.dooce.com/archives/daily/04_26_2006.html
it isn't pretty but then you can read
http://www.dooce.com/archives/nubbin/05_05_2006.html
and feel like there is hope.
YIKES! Is there something to keep a plumber away like an apple keeps the doctor away? I let you know if I hear of anything.
So I got a comment from a Lucy van Pelt- NO idea who this is, click on blog, learn something new about friend, add new blog to my feeds. YEAH!
We have been having plumbing woes as well in our rental house. Everytime we did a load of laundry or took a shower the water came up the drain in the middle of the laundry room floor, and brought smelly nasty friends with it. Blech. I called two plumbers and was quoted $85 for the first 15 min and $75 for each additional 15 minutes plus supplies by the first guy, and a flat rate of $285 by the second. So I sent an email to the elder's quorum president who forwarded it on to the elders. One nice fellow wrote back and admitted he was a former plumber, now reformed. However, he would be happy to help us. In the meantime our landlord called and said he would take care of the problem. No charge. Woo hoo!!
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