My OperaPlumbing
Thursday, April 8, 2010 1:48:28 PM
The editor has gotten used to snaking out the plumbing line from the sink down to the basement, which given curves and all is about 35 feet. Last weekend, the snake didn't work. It went to a certain point, which itself takes skill and cunning from years of practice. Water laced with Liquid Plumber simply didn't get through, even overnight.
On pulling the snake back, it seemed as if the slightly bulbous head had (relatively dry) drywall dust in it. The editor is used to smelly, viscous stuff. There had been some drywall work in the kitchen to repair ice dam damage from the most recent failure of Global Warming. Could that be it? Wound up cutting a hole towards the the bottom of the line and snaking backwards. Got a lot of crud, and appropriate smells. Tossed the crud down the outdoor drain. There were large pieces there, and this was not from a sewer line. The wife washed of a couple of the large pieces, and low and behold: a piece of half-inch drywall.
The piece was simply too big to have gone down the kitchen sink drain under any circumstances because of the sieves on the drains. There is only one possibility: It has been there all along, probably from the renovation in 1979. The plumber involved was hired by the general contractor, and had his office on Ninth Street up toward Rhode Island. Long gone now. The editor figures that he put it there originally, hoping for a call to fix the plumbing since he was a close by plumber. But at that point, the editor had been successful at snaking things out. The editor and wife figured it was our fault, dumping the wrong stuff down the drain. We have always been careful, but who could say.
I mentioned this to a contractor foreman I know and he recalls a time when a lady had periodic backups in her shower. She'd call the plumber, he'd come and fix it and it would be fine for a while. One time she called another plumber. He said there was enough of an obstruction placed in the drain that over time hair would accumulate and back things up. The last contractor pulled the obstruction and she never had the problem again.
The editor is going to retire the snakes. If he were Saint Patrick, of course, he would cast them out.
On pulling the snake back, it seemed as if the slightly bulbous head had (relatively dry) drywall dust in it. The editor is used to smelly, viscous stuff. There had been some drywall work in the kitchen to repair ice dam damage from the most recent failure of Global Warming. Could that be it? Wound up cutting a hole towards the the bottom of the line and snaking backwards. Got a lot of crud, and appropriate smells. Tossed the crud down the outdoor drain. There were large pieces there, and this was not from a sewer line. The wife washed of a couple of the large pieces, and low and behold: a piece of half-inch drywall.
The piece was simply too big to have gone down the kitchen sink drain under any circumstances because of the sieves on the drains. There is only one possibility: It has been there all along, probably from the renovation in 1979. The plumber involved was hired by the general contractor, and had his office on Ninth Street up toward Rhode Island. Long gone now. The editor figures that he put it there originally, hoping for a call to fix the plumbing since he was a close by plumber. But at that point, the editor had been successful at snaking things out. The editor and wife figured it was our fault, dumping the wrong stuff down the drain. We have always been careful, but who could say.
I mentioned this to a contractor foreman I know and he recalls a time when a lady had periodic backups in her shower. She'd call the plumber, he'd come and fix it and it would be fine for a while. One time she called another plumber. He said there was enough of an obstruction placed in the drain that over time hair would accumulate and back things up. The last contractor pulled the obstruction and she never had the problem again.
The editor is going to retire the snakes. If he were Saint Patrick, of course, he would cast them out.
