Plumbing Woes
Since our bathroom demolition, the five of us have been reduced to using one tiny half bathroom. As if that isn't challenging enough, last night our one and only toilet rebelled against us and refused to flush. We're not quite sure what the problem was, but we figure it has something to do with the fact that we have three girls who love to use toilet paper. They go through it like air here. Anyway, the toilet filled up with water to the point of almost overflowing, but fortunately it didn't. Jeff plunged and plunged to no avail. By this morning, the toilet water had gone down and he was able to flush. All seemed fine until a couple of hours later when the bowl filled up again. Did I mention that our washing machine water backed up into our tub last night as well? So something is definitely wonky with our plumbing system. Jeff crawled up under the house last night to inspect and he says that it seems that there is a clog in an elbow shaped pipe. So he's on his way home now with a 50 ft long snake to try to unplug it.
Forgetting all of these plumbing woes, this morning I made myself a delicious cup of coffee flavored with Hazelnut creamer and whipped cream on top. Normally, this would be a perfect way to get my day started. However today - I'm afraid it was a mistake.
I could really use a bathroom right now.
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7 comments:
Yikes! I had many many plumbing "issues" recently so I can relate. On the plus side, since the washer backed up into your tub, you can probably pinpoint where the blockage is.
1. Use the snake, but insert it from the overflow tube on the tub (not the drain). It should clear out the blockage.
2. Don't use the snake on the toilet (it's not where the blockage is, and you need a "closet auger" not a regular snake for that.
3. if your sink is between your tub & toilet and it's an old house, make sure you don't have a drum trap (you can damage that with a snake). Good luck.
Thank you, HIN! I'll pass this info along to Jeff. He snaked from below the house, first cutting out the weird elbow pipe, snaking out as much gunk as he could, then replaced the elbow with a T pipe. I haven't been under there so I don't know why the T-pipe. Anyway, things seem to be working *ok* now but he said we'll know after a little while (and several flushes later) if that did the trick. We're playing the waiting game now.
Our house is almost 30 years old, so pretty much a youngun' compared to the other homes on HouseBlogs.
Thanks again for the tips!
Oh my! :( No fun, indeed. We've been plagued with plumbing issues since our house purchase. And just tonight we had a very bad leaking radiator (we have hot water heat in our home). Argh!
So we're thinking of you guys. Wish we lived closer so we could help out. *hugs*
Hey Eese,
Thank you so much for the offer - you may be hearing from me! Our plumbing woes aren't over as we thought. *sigh* Sydney ended up showering at Leigh's last night. She thought that was cool, hehe.
Ugh, Bev - I'm so sorry about your leaking radiator! What a pain! The joys of homeownership...hubs was reflecting yesterday on how wonderful it was to be able to call a maintenance man when we rented, hehe. Thank for your warm thoughts - that means a lot to me:)
How I miss not being responsible for the repairs!
Hope it all works out asap!
ugh, that's no fun. hope you're feeling better soon! (and that your plumbing woes get cleared up...)
Thank so much, Sharon and Erilyn:) Hopefully tomorrow will be a much better day for me and our plumbing!
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