We've been without the use of our second upstairs bathtub for quite some time now. It started out to be a problem while taking a bath. You see, when I would drain the tub after the kids bath, there would be a little water trickle out of the air conditioning vent downstairs above the kitchen table. So we started tubbing the Littles in our bathroom and the boys still showered in theirs. It then progressed to a steady dripping of water during showers out of the vent and the nearby light fixture until finally, if you turned on the water, it seemed to be directly connected to the air vent/ light fixture in a water fountain sort of way. Bathtub closed for business. Until such time as Charlie could fit it into his schedule to "have a look at". Days became weeks and weeks started to stretch until one day as my washing machine hit the drain cycle, water started pouring out from under my downstairs toilet. I could not for the life of me figure out why the water in my washer was coming out from under the toilet. That is, until each one of the kids had gone into each of the three bathrooms and pooped in the three toilets.
That kind of thing never happens early in the day. No, it happens late in the evening after all the plumbers have gone home for the evening. I put a call into the answering service and they promised to put us at the top of the list for the following day. I'm not sure where I was the next day, but Charlie was home to meet the plumbers and we decided to let the plumbers have a look at the bathtub leak as well.
Six hundred dollars later, I had three working toilets, a draining washer, a newly caulked bathtub faucet and a clean out installed in the middle of my brick sidewalk in the backyard, with all the bricks laying hither, dither in my flower bed. I was relieved and angry at the same time. "You mean to tell me, that they think caulking around the faucet is going to stop the bathtub from leaking through to the air vent? What took so long? What do you mean they charged a hundred and fifty dollars to find the drain? Why did they put it in the middle of the sidewalk?" He explained it all away in the logical way guys do and I continued to bitch the way girls do.
Sure enough, two days later when we were given the green light to try the tub, it was a no-go. So Charlie climbed up on the table, cut open the ceiling and "had a look at it". It seems that some six hundred dollar plumber had stuck the brass fitting coming out of the tub, into a larger piece of PVC without really attaching or sealing it in any way. So off to the Ace Hardware he went and procured the proper fitting needed to fix the problem and did a very nice job, if I may say so. However, when we tried the tub, we still had a very small leak that we could not figure out where it was coming from. It had been a long day and the next day it rained, so it wouldn't have been good for putting up drywall anyway, so we put it off till the next weekend and before we knew it, Charlie had a broken clavicle and could not finish the job.
Which brings us to yesterday. Late in the evening, after dinner but before my Boy Scout Meeting, I threw the kids sheets in the washer and went upstairs to get ready. Then Charlie was yelling and when I got downstairs, the utility was flooded, from water coming out from under the toilet.
(Insert the string of curse words of your choice.)
So we got out my electric floor mop and started sucking up and dumping the wash water three cups at a time out the back door. Since I was running late, Melee' and Charlie took over the chore and John and I went on to our meeting. As we drove back into the driveway an hour later, I thought, "Strange, the driveway looks as wet as when we left." And the thought had not cleared my left ear when I see Charlie slinging another three cups out the back door.
"What's going on?"
"WATCH OUT, DON'T STEP IN ANY OF THAT, IT'S POOP WATER."
"What?"
"Ace evidently went upstairs and pooped in our toilet and has been flushing the toilet for the last ten minutes."
(Insert the string of curse words of your choice!)
At 8:00 last night I put in a call to the plumbers answering service where they assured me we would be the first stop of the day. Man, I couldn't wait till they got here. I was gonna give them a piece of my mind! What nerve they had! Six hundred dollars and I had not one thing to show for it. Except a hole in my kitchen ceiling and poop debris behind my downstairs toilet!
They got here around 9:00 this morning and before I had time to give them a piece of my mind, they pulled out a half a roll of paper towels out of the clean out drain. A hundred and fifty seven dollars later, I'm on my hands and knees cleaning up poop debris and composing a want ad in my head for a three year old.
That kind of thing never happens early in the day. No, it happens late in the evening after all the plumbers have gone home for the evening. I put a call into the answering service and they promised to put us at the top of the list for the following day. I'm not sure where I was the next day, but Charlie was home to meet the plumbers and we decided to let the plumbers have a look at the bathtub leak as well.
Six hundred dollars later, I had three working toilets, a draining washer, a newly caulked bathtub faucet and a clean out installed in the middle of my brick sidewalk in the backyard, with all the bricks laying hither, dither in my flower bed. I was relieved and angry at the same time. "You mean to tell me, that they think caulking around the faucet is going to stop the bathtub from leaking through to the air vent? What took so long? What do you mean they charged a hundred and fifty dollars to find the drain? Why did they put it in the middle of the sidewalk?" He explained it all away in the logical way guys do and I continued to bitch the way girls do.
Sure enough, two days later when we were given the green light to try the tub, it was a no-go. So Charlie climbed up on the table, cut open the ceiling and "had a look at it". It seems that some six hundred dollar plumber had stuck the brass fitting coming out of the tub, into a larger piece of PVC without really attaching or sealing it in any way. So off to the Ace Hardware he went and procured the proper fitting needed to fix the problem and did a very nice job, if I may say so. However, when we tried the tub, we still had a very small leak that we could not figure out where it was coming from. It had been a long day and the next day it rained, so it wouldn't have been good for putting up drywall anyway, so we put it off till the next weekend and before we knew it, Charlie had a broken clavicle and could not finish the job.
Which brings us to yesterday. Late in the evening, after dinner but before my Boy Scout Meeting, I threw the kids sheets in the washer and went upstairs to get ready. Then Charlie was yelling and when I got downstairs, the utility was flooded, from water coming out from under the toilet.
So we got out my electric floor mop and started sucking up and dumping the wash water three cups at a time out the back door. Since I was running late, Melee' and Charlie took over the chore and John and I went on to our meeting. As we drove back into the driveway an hour later, I thought, "Strange, the driveway looks as wet as when we left." And the thought had not cleared my left ear when I see Charlie slinging another three cups out the back door.
"What's going on?"
"WATCH OUT, DON'T STEP IN ANY OF THAT, IT'S POOP WATER."
"What?"
"Ace evidently went upstairs and pooped in our toilet and has been flushing the toilet for the last ten minutes."
At 8:00 last night I put in a call to the plumbers answering service where they assured me we would be the first stop of the day. Man, I couldn't wait till they got here. I was gonna give them a piece of my mind! What nerve they had! Six hundred dollars and I had not one thing to show for it. Except a hole in my kitchen ceiling and poop debris behind my downstairs toilet!
They got here around 9:00 this morning and before I had time to give them a piece of my mind, they pulled out a half a roll of paper towels out of the clean out drain. A hundred and fifty seven dollars later, I'm on my hands and knees cleaning up poop debris and composing a want ad in my head for a three year old.
7 comments:
OMG OMG OMG. That kid is cute!! I'll pay $757. Will he do windows?
Heck yea he does windows! He makes the prettiest spitty finger artwork on windows and mirrors you've EVER seen!
Oh goodness! But, he is the cutest toliet backer upper I have ever seen. :) I hope everything is in working order now. It seems like once you start having plumbing problems they never really go away.
OH! DON'T SAY THAT!! I'd have to marry a plumber and I don't think Charlie would like another husband hanging around the house!
Holy crap!
We have tree roots that clog up our drain pipe to the city sewer. If we don't have it Roto-Rootered once a year we get poop water too. Joy.
I still have dried sewage on my boiler room floor from (blushing)Feb when the sewer line backed up. I am the only one who is resonsible for cleaning it up and I can not bring myself to put on the Hazmat suit and do the job.
How are you, darlin'? Well I hope.
My husband can't bring himself to do it either. I do poop, he does vomit.
Gag...
I'm good, I just look up and BAM, it's been two weeks since I last wrote anything. Time flies whether you're having fun or not!
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