Plumbing bitch thread

[Sock Puppet]

This latest plumbing disaster probably won't ruin my life (cf. a certain old vm thread), but it certainly doesn't have me dancing from the pure joy of it.

My house is a 2-bath with back-to-back toilets. First the shower got plugged up, then I discovered that both toilets were stopped up beyond the hope of plunging. It took me a few beats to realize that the two problems were connected. Dumbass. :doh: That was confirmed when the standing water in the shower started to show -- well -- you figure it out. :bleh: Then the shower/bath combo in the other bathroom, which we don't use every day, got in on the act without provocation. It's a drainage revolt. And yes, it is revolting.

We called several so-called "24-hour emergency" plumbers before we found one that would actually send someone. I went to show the plumber where I thought we had a drain clean-out. It wasn't a clean-out, it was a vent for the old legacy irrigation system. I don't have a clean-out.

So I had two options: have him pull both toilets to snake the line, or have him come back in the morning with a second guy to access the drain from the roof (they don't do that at night). Pulling the toilets would've taken a helluva lot of time on the clock, so I chose option 2. This morning I took a shower at work -- at least all these annoying, health-conscious types who work out here finally proved useful.

I'll probably be getting a call in a few minutes as they start to work. I can get a discount on getting a clean-out installed if they do it today as well, so what the fuck, I'll probably have them do it. :spend:

One of these years, I might actually get my yearly bonus before I spend it. :fuming: Fucking house.

[livius drusus]

So much ew. Is your wife home with the wee one, and if so, can she bear the stench?

[Sock Puppet]

Yes they are, but with the bathroom door shut and window open, and a towel across the crack at bottom of the door, it wasn't bad.

I just got a call, and they've already cleared it. Now they're giving the line a colonoscopy to see if there's an actual break.

[viscousmemories]

Man, at least my plumbing had the decency to destroy my house. I'd hate to have to deal with it on an ongoing basis.

[Sock Puppet]

Turns out, I do have a clean-out. It was buried under bricks and an overgrown hedge. So that's one glimmer in the sewage-laden darkness. There is, however, a problem with the drain pipe in one bathroom wall. Everything grades properly (i.e., the pipe has a proper downward angle as it goes toward the street), except for that one point, where it briefly has to go uphill. That will require a full day of the plumbers' time. :spend: At least it doesn't have to be done today, but it will have to be done fairly soon. I'll get the estimate after they finish their other work.

Using the camera apparently doubled the price of the work they're doing today. Fuck. :angry:

[cappuccino]

Wow. Plumbing scares me. I didn't even know there was a such a thing as a clean-out though it makes sense.

I hope your problems get fixed ASAP.

[Dingfod]

Brother don't I know know the plumbing nightmares. I spent over $600 on plumbers, cameras, leak detection equipment, etc.; and I tore out part of a wall only to find out the problem was the washing machine leaking. A $20 plastic pan under it solved the problem until we could get the washing machine fixed or a new one. An expensive non-existant problem, one that wasn't caught until several years of annoying wet spots in the den carpet kept appearing mysteriously.

ETA: Oh, yeah. My house didn't have a cleanout at all. It does now.

[Sock Puppet]

Today's tab: $780.

The other problem will cost double that.

Gee, thanks. I didn't have enough bills to pay, and my checkbook was feeling neglected.

[Dingfod]

That should take care of that pesky cash lying around doing nothing.

[Waluigi]

Yikes. The biggest plumbing problem I had was my hot water heater going TU four days after I closed on the house. At least we weren't living there yet.

Good luck with your plumbing woes.

[JoeP]

Cameras? In plumbing? I don't think Africa has that technology...

[cappuccino]

Wha..? They don't do colonoscopies in Africa?

[Sock Puppet]

Yeah, I was sort of surprised that they were going to give my sewer pipes a colonoscopy, but it certainly makes sense to do. Beats ripping up the walls to see what's going on.

They also made a video of some huge piles of rock material in the crawlspace. It appears that the twits who did the roof 2 years before I bought the house were extremely careless, and allowed a ton of material from the roof to fall through the roof vents down into the crawlspace. At first, the plumbers thought it had caused the damage to the pipes. Apparently it didn't (per the drainoscopy), so I guess I don't have a cause of action against them unless I just want to sue them for the time it will take me to clean up their mess.

Instead, my woes are caused by something called a "belly" -- essentially, a pipe aneurism.

[Sock Puppet]

The belly is now flattened. It took them substantially less time to repair than they'd thought -- so they only charged me $995 rather than $1600. I don' t know what I'm going to do with all of the money I saved. :rolleyes:

One of these years I'll need to go down into the crawlspace and figure out how to clean out the roofing crap. Besides, I suppose I won't really be intimately connected to the house until I've examined every inch of it. Funny, I don't think I'll lose any sleep over that, however.