Oh my goodness! Yes, this is my third update for our dug-up yard the last three months! And the saga continues….
Headed on our family excursion…
Yesterday my husband spent the day, the entire day working on our collapsed pipe and replacing the cement connection pipe. We took our family trip to Home Depot first thing in the morning and then he went straight to work. The problem within replacing the pipe is this pipe is our main sewer line which has traces of feces and we DO NOT want my husband to get sick. He bought a respirator and body suite!
Of course…too small
While he was out there, he needed me to me to run back to Home Depot as one of the fittings was too small. As a approached Home Depot I had a feeling they wouldn’t have the part we needed. Unfortunately, my feeling was beyond accurate but little did I know that on weekends most plumbing stores are CLOSED. So I had to drive an additional 20 minutes across town to find this part. I walked in to find that you need to “take a number” and wait for them to call you. They were extremely busy, it was almost as if I stumbled upon DMV. When I finally got help, I bought three different sizes because I was determined NOT to drive back if I got the wrong size. I head home and luckily the middle size was perfect.
I head in to check on my sleeping babe as my husband remained outside the whole time I was gone because he was covered in mud or feces, I’m not too sure which. I peek out the window now and again to see him hidden deep within the hole and other times see him frustrated at life. I knew he wanted to quick long ago, yet we currently had no running water and wouldn’t have running water until it was fixed. Finally, 5 hours later and after MANY complications, he got the pipe connected. He added a cleanout as this has been a major problem that it would be easier to access with a cleanout readily accessible. Once it was connected (minus the cleanout) we had me flush both toilets.
Plugged!!!
AYI YI YI….to our dismay we now had complete blockage of the pipes….the furry raised in the two of us as the problem was clearly marked out before the digging even began. If my husband spent all that time to not have addressed to proper issue, we were not going to be happy. Too many hours and too many dollars spent thus far.
Michael has a snake and tried to snake it out but we had NO success. I finally had a brilliant idea to call Roto-Rooter and ask for a complimentary snake as the issue clearly wasn’t where they had told us. While we waited my husband showered because he was covered from head to toe in feces. It was the most rancid smell to date and he was covered in it! (praying he doesn’t get sick) The supervisor on call came out with a team mate and was beyond nice! They did three different things to help clean out our pipe and took a camera down as well. We have two LARGE tree roots taking over our pipe. So much so that “junk” easily attaches itself to the roots causing our pipes to back up quickly.
We were given two options: 1. Keep digging and replace more piping for another 10 feet… or 2. Keep digging and replace more piping. :) Okay so we went with neither of those options and decided we would fill the current hole back up with dirt and buy some products that helps kills the roots over time and wash them away. We have to products to purchase and continue to treat for the next 4 months and then once a month after that. This will buy us some time as we are not going to tackle this ourselves and continue to risk my husbands health.
The men that came out were soooooo nice and gracious to us that the job was completely free and they gave us a lot of feedback and help to solve our issues. We had a couple “old faithful’s” take place in the midst of the cleanout and Cooper was so excited to watch this all take place. The smell was horrific and because it was so blocked my husband unfortunately had to deal first hand with it, literally. :)
BUT needless to say, the problem is fixed, cleaned and hopefully taken care of. We will begin treating the roots this week and double flushing, dishwashing and doing lots of laundry as the extra water will help flush any blockage of toilet paper that begins to take place. Being fully aware of the situation is extremely helpful and having a game plan is also beyond beneficial. I was avoiding sending more water down the drain to avoid a backup, but now that it’s clean, that’s the best thing we can do. YAY!!!
Who would have thought that our “situation” could be so extensive, time consuming and hazardous? Thankful that our pipes are healed for the most part with a couple big boo-boos that we will treat with a few Band-Aids. :)
Moment of Truth: Both my husband and I put our fair share into this “situation” and have a new appreciation for plumbers!!! They deserve our respect and support!
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