Thursday, December 11, 2008

Christmas presents pick themselves around here!!!

It all started on Thanksgiving Day!!! After feeding the masses, the missus said,"Sccccooootttt, the kitchen sink is not draining!!!) We have remodeled her family home and our new kitchen has two sinks. All of the plumbing in the house is new-except for 1 drain. Yepper, the kitchen sink with the DISHWASHER attached. It would have been a major floor chipping operation to replace that drain in the beginning, traversing 20 feet diagonally across the kitchen to where the drain intersects with the bathroom. Soooooooo.........I left it. The only old drain in the house.
#3S and I get the plunger and run hot water--PLUNGE, sploop,PLUNGE , sploop. The water drains -YEEHI!
Fast Forward 1 week----Scoooooottttttt-the damn drain is slow again. #3S and I go to work ----PLUNGE,sploop,PLUNGE,sploop. The water drains_YEEEEHI!
Fast Forward 1 week----I notice DUCT TAPE xed across sink. Hon, are you working on the sink?? I asked incredulously! Why didn't you call me? Whats going on??
Well it seems that the sink had run slow again, and my better half decided to fix it herself. She found a chemical that you dissolve in hot water and the bacteria will eat your drains clean. I let this slide because I have been married long enough now to know better. YYYEEAAAAAHHH

Two days later , I decide it is time to do something else. So me and #3S go to work----Hot-Hot water, rags to plug off the vent and second drain, plunger, and off we go. PLUNGE-sploop_PLUNGE-glub(glub????)--PLUNGE---NADA--PLUNGE-NADA-PLUNGE-NADA!!!!
SHITSHITSHITSHITTERSHIT! (or fluckity,fluck,fluck,fluck)
Okay , hon I think we may have to break down and call a plumber! Hope we can snake this out.
I will call first thing in the morning.
6am- she said" GET OUT OF BED-THE KITCHEN IS FLOODED" I get up and sure enough I had forgotten about the RO unit. It takes 3 gallons of city water to make 1 gallon of drinking water! The extra 2 gallons goes down the drain-----or in this case ----fills up the sink and runs out in the floor. Of course if I had not decided to try to plunge the sink and filled it up with hot water it would not have run out on the floor.
Plumber arrives at 9 am..........................................5pm still clogged. Seems the old cast iron pipe has decided that his work is done. The plumber decides to call it a day. We will start over in the morning.
Present day--We are on day 3 of the Wacky World of Plumbing! There are multitudes of equipment in our front yard. A Komotsu track hoe, a diamond tipped bladed concrete saw, jack-hammer, air compressor, shovels, picks, and piles of rubble. Concrete , mud, dirt and chipped up brick and tile are everywhere. We cant just bring the drain out the wall , we have to attach the vent to it also. More brick, concrete, and of course MONEY!
After talking to our plumber, we all decided that I would hire the concrete and brick repair out to someone who specializes in that genre of construction. Since the plumbers charge me $105 per hour , I know I can save some money there. The plumbing work should finish up tomorrow, and the concrete\brick\tile guy is coming over Saturday.
My lovely wife looked at me this evening and said"You don't have to get me a Christmas present". I have already told you I have been married too long to fall for one like that.

I think I will get her a disposal! Yeah! That will surprise her, and she will like it. Now where will I find the electricity to run it?????? Okay , I'll call an electrician!!!!! Pictures of my front yard -I will post in the morning.
Thanks for your time ,
Merry CHRISTmas!

1 comment:

That Janie Girl said...

Lordy, Lordy, Lordy.

Floods are running in the family this season!

I love ya...