Thursday, September 29, 2005

Holy CRAP!!!!!

Posted by Peter at Thursday, September 29, 2005
Holy CRAP!!!!!

When my boss told me that things always go wrong right after you buy a house, he was right. A few days ago, I noticed that the downstairs bathtub was backing up with water. So I took the plunger and stabbed it into the heart of the water a few times. That didn't seem to work. So I bought some Drano and poured it down the drain. All is well and the water receded. The next morning when I walked to the bathroom it was full of sludge like water! I couldn't believe it, again. So I left it as it was and went to work, when I came back home it was gone. I wasn't too sure what was going on, then it hit me, literally. My wife was upstairs and she was using the toilet, a few seconds after she flushed the toilet, it looked as if Old Faithful had come up in my bathroom. Now I knew what the problem was. I just didn't know exactly what it was. I knew that there must be a clog somewhere in my drain. Now the downstairs bathroom sits right next to the main sewer pipe, well I think that what it is. I took some more Drano type solutions and forced it down the drain. That didn't work. I plunged it 1,245,636 times and that didn't work. I bought a snake, auger, whatever it is and pushed that through the pipes, that didn't work either, but I could tell that there was something there. There was one point where the snake wouldn't go any farther and I couldn't seem to screw it through. When I pulled the snake back out I saw some roots on it, so it seems that tree roots have invaded my pipes. ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH! What to do what to do. I just hope that my pipes aren't totally screwed over. I don't have that kind of money to put in new sewer lines. I guess after all that hard work I will have to try and call a pro, boy do I hate having to do that. Of course I could always rent a power auger from Home Depot. Well I guess you will have to wait and see. If anyone has sugguestions please leave me a message. I need help. Holy Crap, literally.

4 comments on "Holy CRAP!!!!!"

Ms. P in Jackson on 6:13 AM said...

Peter,

It should be a snap for a roto-rooter type machine to rip through the roots in your sewer pipe. My old house used to do that and every few years I call a rooter service to come out and clear away the roots. It usually cost between $100-125. You can also rent one of the big ones yourself (yes, I have done this) and run it through the pipe. Plumbing hardships are nightmares. I wish you the best on this.

Oh yeah, you probably already know this but just in case: Be careful with the Drano, it can eat the enamel finish off of tubs.

Gary on 8:34 AM said...

Bite the bullet and pay Roto-Rooter the first time. Watch how he works the snake though. Next time (about two years from now) rent one for $40 and do it yourself. From this point on, flush nothing thicker than toilet paper down the bowl. Sounds like the main stack is backing up to a level higher than the downstairs bathtub. We had this problem when we bought our "nightmare" house. In fact, the sewer backed up two days before we bought it and the owner didn't tell us. He had paid Roto-Rooter to snake the drain but had left the mess in the basement. The first day was spent in welly boots sweeping out the basement of 2 inches of water and crap!

Anonymous said...

Call American Plumbing...they do good work, are quick to respond, and are very familiar with Springfield plumbing. Come to find out, the people who sell you these houses aren't as honest about the work that has been done to them as you would like them to be!

Derek on 1:38 PM said...

If you have cast iron pipe, you shouldn't be using draino at all, since it corrodes the pipe. I had a similiar situation, the root was on city property, so they had to fix the pipe.

 

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