Fun with Plumbers... Adventures in Wastewater

Two weeks ago Sunday, T flooded the bathroom while taking a bath. I didn't freak out or think there was a problem until Tuesday evening when it happened again and I realized that the water wasn't draining properly. We opened the clean out cap in the front bushes and out came all the bathwater. Great news - the clog was not in the house! Wednesday I called the plumbers who agreed to come on Thursday, in spite of the fact that they were swamped by broken pipe calls from the Polar Vortex. 

Thursday the plumber spent an hour snaking the wastewater line. He said the problem was out at the street, not in the yard, so I called the city. They sent a couple guys over with a special truck. They snaked the pipe, and checked out the yard and declared they had found the problem. They spray painted the yard, told me it was in space that was our responsibility, and left. Friday the plumbers promised to come back to dig but it rained all day. Monday they came and dug a deep trench. 

Then they made the trench longer, in hopes of finding the problem. No luck.

Next they snaked the line again. With the pipe now exposed, they could hear the snake going by! Looks like the problem is not in the part of the yard that is our responsibility. The plumbing supervisor came to the house to check on things and called the city. They asked for a new clean out cap at this spot that has been excavated to make it easier to reach the problem. 

So now we have this 15 inch tall pipe sticking up out of the middle of the yard, and a promise from the city that they will be by on Tuesday to check on the problem. 

I came home from morning disc golf and dropping T off at school to find a whole construction project in our front yard. 

Seven trunks lined the street in front of our house! The started with snaking and quickly moved on to digging a big hole. The hole got so deep, all I could see was the hard hats of the guys standing in it. The hole grew and out went two sections of our sidewalk. Then they cut new sections of pipe.

Eventually, I saw one of the men raise his arms in a traditional victory pose. Success!

They filled the hole back in (I tried to make a video for T)

There's still work to do but the drains are again draining!

time for some new sidewalk!