Plumbing Woes
Thursday, April 24th, 2008 04:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auntbijouOur kitchen sink drain stopped working last Friday.
*grumbles*
The Husbandly One thought a steel wool pad that had accidently gone down the garbage disposal was the culprit. Oh, if only things were that easy! Well, my solutions didn't work, THO's solutions didn't work, so it was time to call a plumber. THO's attempts with a plumber's snake had proved there was a blockage, but it wasn't an SOS pad.
So, the plumber came yesterday. Gets his big, MOTORIZED snake and sends that into the pipe. It goes through the bend, goes down past the first turn, hits the second... and the cord starts wrapping around the plumber's big arm.
Nope, not a good sign.
He tried various angles, tried peering into the pipe, and then said, "Is this house post and beam?"
"Yes," I said.
"Well, that's good," though I can see he's not wildly enthusiastic about crawling under our house. Well, to tell you the truth, neither am I!
So, he crawls under, knocks around, and then... comes out, filthy and sweaty. And says the Words of Doom.
"You have a broken pipe."
*slumps*
And no, it's not the PVC pipe from our house. It's the ancient, cast iron pipe that was probaby laid back in, what, 1883? Or 1922. Or 1950, though I don't think they were still using cast iron for water pipes then, but who knows? Anyway, it has rusted through, and fallen in on itself, and is blocking out-going water from the kitchen sink. This means either involving the city and lots of digging, delays, and MONEY, not to mention dealing with the Good Old Boys at City Hall (I don't do so well with Good Old Boys)... or tying the line into our washing machine's drain, with some trenching under the house, and much less money.
Guess which option we chose?
This means washing dishes on the back porch for now. In a big wash-tub, you know, the kind your great-grandma did her laundry in?
Yay whoopee yay.
Oh, and I went to the dentist today to get my last crown put in, thought, "Great, I'm done until next year!"
Suuuuuure...
"Mrs. J, you'll need to come in again. One of your older fillings is crumbling and needs to be replaced."
O_O
"Um, can we put it off until next year? When our insurance starts over again??"
The assistant smiles sweetly. "Sure, if you don't mind having a root canal, as opposed to a filling."
*sigh*
Yeah. So, we're looking at a bill of between $700, and $1000 for the plumbing (yes, yes, I know that's actually pretty good. I know my parents paid twice that when they had a similar problem last year, and it went HIGHER becaues the city got involved), and then another $230 for my filling.
Ay-yi-yi!!!
Roller-coaster... off... now... please?
*grumbles*
The Husbandly One thought a steel wool pad that had accidently gone down the garbage disposal was the culprit. Oh, if only things were that easy! Well, my solutions didn't work, THO's solutions didn't work, so it was time to call a plumber. THO's attempts with a plumber's snake had proved there was a blockage, but it wasn't an SOS pad.
So, the plumber came yesterday. Gets his big, MOTORIZED snake and sends that into the pipe. It goes through the bend, goes down past the first turn, hits the second... and the cord starts wrapping around the plumber's big arm.
Nope, not a good sign.
He tried various angles, tried peering into the pipe, and then said, "Is this house post and beam?"
"Yes," I said.
"Well, that's good," though I can see he's not wildly enthusiastic about crawling under our house. Well, to tell you the truth, neither am I!
So, he crawls under, knocks around, and then... comes out, filthy and sweaty. And says the Words of Doom.
"You have a broken pipe."
*slumps*
And no, it's not the PVC pipe from our house. It's the ancient, cast iron pipe that was probaby laid back in, what, 1883? Or 1922. Or 1950, though I don't think they were still using cast iron for water pipes then, but who knows? Anyway, it has rusted through, and fallen in on itself, and is blocking out-going water from the kitchen sink. This means either involving the city and lots of digging, delays, and MONEY, not to mention dealing with the Good Old Boys at City Hall (I don't do so well with Good Old Boys)... or tying the line into our washing machine's drain, with some trenching under the house, and much less money.
Guess which option we chose?
This means washing dishes on the back porch for now. In a big wash-tub, you know, the kind your great-grandma did her laundry in?
Yay whoopee yay.
Oh, and I went to the dentist today to get my last crown put in, thought, "Great, I'm done until next year!"
Suuuuuure...
"Mrs. J, you'll need to come in again. One of your older fillings is crumbling and needs to be replaced."
O_O
"Um, can we put it off until next year? When our insurance starts over again??"
The assistant smiles sweetly. "Sure, if you don't mind having a root canal, as opposed to a filling."
*sigh*
Yeah. So, we're looking at a bill of between $700, and $1000 for the plumbing (yes, yes, I know that's actually pretty good. I know my parents paid twice that when they had a similar problem last year, and it went HIGHER becaues the city got involved), and then another $230 for my filling.
Ay-yi-yi!!!
Roller-coaster... off... now... please?
