Is that snow in August?

It looked like it was snowing in House #1 the other day.  Walt Kowalski was knocking the ceiling down upstairs and packing peanuts galore were falling from the ceiling.  They used packing peanuts and crushed up Styrofoam egg cartons for insulation.  Interesting concept. 

That's a yellow egg separator in the mix.  No, I won't be saving it to use in the kitchen.  We also found a ladle.  Didn't save that either.  Mostly I tapped Walt Kowalski in the bum with it.

 

And away go troubles down the drain...

 

The rotor man was at House #2 yesterday.  He got the clog unclogged.  Yeah!  Walt Kowalski and I tried our best, but even after letting it sit all night, there was still water in the pipe in the basement.  It drained a little so we knew it wasn't stopped, but clogged.  Our handheld auger didn't do enough. 

 

 

We had to call for help.  Walt Kowalski could have done it with a larger auger from work, but the space was very small and he had concernes the equipment wouldn't fit in the room. (As it turns out, someone else from work borrowed the auger for the weekend, so we wouldn't have been able to use it anway!)

 

Knowing when to call the professionals is the most important part of home improvement. 

 

After many flushes, and many attempts to get water to go down, we had enough and the mama of the house had to do some laundry.  Those work clothes won't wash themselves.

 

At that point there was already water in the basement, it was going down, just slowly, what would a little soap detergent hurt?

 

She called to tell us the water was still coming up in the basement.  She said "It's very bubbly down there.  But it smells better. "

 

I'll take the smell of laundry detergent over the smell of sewage any day.

 

The rotor man is coming back tomorrow to look through the pipes with a camera.  He thinks there might be a problem 40feet down the line.  The city has the main road torn up and Walt Kowalski has a sneaking suspicion they might be part of the problem.  Either way, the camera action is free.  A little piece of mind on old pipes, and leverage against the city if necessary, is good.

 

Things I learned today

1. I'm quite talented at using the plunger. 
2. Plunging is not a talent I want to put on my resume.
3. I could have never lived in a time without plumbing.