Plumbing issues around the house

Today's blog is just about the events of today, sprinkled with humor. We all need a break sometimes from daily work...

Today was a busy day, but one that was busy around the house. If anyone was following me on Facebook, you will know that we had a major plumbing backup occur Sunday morning. Since we didn't want to pay double or triple price for a plumber on Sunday, we opted to use the motorhome as our extended bathroom (lucky for us...) until the plumber arrived today.

What happened yesterday was kinda funny, but not really. I was doing my second load of laundry and wandered into the bathroom to pick something up. Imagine my surprise when I look over at our Garden Tub to see it almost completely full of black water. I then look at the shower stall and see that it too is completely full of thick, black water. It still makes my skin crawl to see all that black water... I then dash into the second bathroom to discover that tub has experienced the same problem, thick black water....ewwww...

In a panic, I call Steve, he thinks I am just overreacting, until he sees the mess. We both are two very active people, running around, turning off the washing machine, making sure all other water sources are turned off. We then try to use the plumbers aid (plunger) in the tubs and shower, in an effort to clear whatever blocked, to no avail. The really good news is that black water did not smell nearly as bad as it looked. It actually just smelled like wet earth...good for me... What we ended up doing was going outside to the plumbing drain pipe, and opening it up to see what was going on. Well....has anyone opened that thing up when there is a backup in the house?

That water is under PRESSURE...should have thought about that, but lesson learned. We had a mini fountain in the back yard for a few minutes until all the water in the house tubs & shower drained out this pipe. We then tried to press a broom handle down that pipe in hopes of freeing up whatever was stuck. My fear was that we would drop the handle, and have a bigger problem on our hands. We didn't drop anything but were unable to feel any blockage with the broom handle. Now we had no means of unblocking squat. So, we just opted to use the motorhome for the time being until a plumber arrived on Monday.

We were supposed to have scheduled an appointment yesterday (according to the answering service yesterday) but never received a call from the "on-call" guy yesterday. We did not receive a call this morning either, and instead of waiting it out, we called the plumber again this morning. We were told someone would arrive around 1 pm today. We hustled around the house and yard preparing for whatever the plumber was going to need to do, getting things done while waiting, eagerly, for the plumber to arrive.

Well, we worked around the house, and kept looking at our watches, working some more, looking at the watch some more, until it was after 2 pm. By then we were frustrated, and called the plumber again. This time we were told that we were indeed on the list (good to know since we spent the day waiting for the plumber...) and were the next in line for someone to be dispatched. So...we worked some more around the house, and this time kept a close eye on the driveway, looking for that plumbing truck.

Boy, when we heard that heavy truck start up our driveway (we were both not near the driveway) around 3 pm, we almost ran over the plumber in our excitement to see him. I now understand why dogs go nuts when you are gone for hours and they are locked up in a room, waiting for you to return.

The great news is that it took the plumber almost 2 minutes to clear that blockage. Boy were we happy it was that easy. I almost kissed the man after clearing up our blockage. I guess our plumbing had a mini stroke, it's artery was blocked. You do not really appreciate modern plumbing until it stops working unexpectedly. Boy, do I appreciate what plumbers do and I am soooo glad our plumbing is back in excellent working condition again. Time to take a nice long soaking shower....

Until tomorrow...