Oh happy days... (lots of pics)

My drain clogged up last night, and I used a large part of the evening to try to open it up. I used hot water, tried to flush the drain with hose, I used my neighbours drain-cleaning wire and at last I tried chemicals(the no no stuff that'll kill your pipes if you use it to often) No luck. deceided to call a plumber today. (luckily for me the cost will be covered by the tenant-owner's association.) As it was just clogged I accepted to wait until tomorrow, as I could use my neigbours shower.
So this is what I came home to from work today:



Called the emergency service at the same plumber company, and he came in less than 40 minutes, and fixed it in less than 20. Nothing like water at 200 bar to clean up the pipes

So now I'm cleaning my bathroom, just had a break to eat some takeaway pizza(late dinner) with my neighbour(he helped me moving the washer and dryer, so that I could clean behind them.) Now that's what I call fun on a thursday night...

Re: Oh happy days...

Nononono, pleeease don't tell me what all the brown in those pics is..... rust from the pipes?
I think I saw a tamer version of this in "Dirty Jobs".

Re: Oh happy days...

Looks like fun! :devil: :nana: :lolsign: :laughing: :naughty: :hahaha:






NOT!!!!






:thumbsdow :candle: :scowl: :sweat: :toilet: :thinking: :wow: :help: :mecry: :shrug:
:ironic: :sick2: :sigh: :hairpull: :eeksign: :eeew: :green: :duh2: oo: :duck: :shakehead

Re: Oh happy days...

:eeew: atleast its not freezing cold this week..

Doug

Re: Oh happy days...

Reminds me of my move into my home just after it had been built. I had it built just before I got out of the navy and had my relatives in Texas supervising since I was still in Georgia. Just days after getting out of the navy, I noticed water seeping out of the bottom of concrete blocks around the edge of the foundation. Went into the crawlspace to investigate. Found that the drain pipe going to the septic tank had not been glued at one joint and had been pulled loose when they made the connection to the septic tank. I now had a 3 inch gap in my toilet drain system, directly under my den! I had been "going" under my house for days. Needless to say I was pissed!

Called the builders and was told by the "answering service" that it might be 3-4 days for a repairman to come out since it was late Friday afternoon. Since I didn't want the "spill" to get any worse, I decided I couldn't wait and did some cleanup myself. Thankfully, I had a set of those Tyvek coveralls I had bought for painting. I donned the coveralls, got a dustpan and sweep, and used a bucket to haul out the mess. Of course when I crawled out I had my stepfather hose me down in the yard before I stripped off the coveralls and then ran straight across the street to my parents house for a nice long hot shower. I was actuallly pleasantly suprised how well the Tyvek coveralls held up and protected me from virtually all the wet and mess. It was not nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be thanks to those coveralls.

The plumber didn't show up until Tuesday to repair the drain.

Re: Oh happy days...

Last night must have been special. I was taking a shower around midnight and the water went freezing cold. Stumlbed downstairs, covered in soap, and found that the furnace was dead. Started troubleshooting it and it looked like the relay control on the oil burner wsan't working. Faced with either calling for emergency service at 12:30am or sleeping in a cold house while covered with detergent. Decided to tear open the realy box and found a bad solder joint had overheated and burned one of the relay legs. I cleaned it all up and resoldered it correctly--presto! We have heat. Finished my shower and went to bed around 2:00am. Before any of you guys try it, believe me that soapy and naked is no way to use a soldering gun.

My old house had tree roots thay would grow into the pipes. Every few years you'd flush the toilet and the tub would turn into a brown whirlpool. Blech.

Re: Oh happy days...

I hope you washed your hands before eating the pizza! :naughty:

Re: Oh happy days...

Just finished tonight's joyful work, I've just downed a Carlsberg and is seriously thinking about getting another

My bathroom, squeaky clean:

the slippers is getting a well earned soak over night.

The only flashlight used in this escapade, an El-cheapo LED-headlight:


Total damages: The pair of socks and rag seen in the 2nd and 3rd picture in the first post, 3 pairs of rubber gloves, 1 bottle of bathroom cleaner and a pair of pants that got wet(I found a tear in it this morning and was discussing whether to repair it or throw it away, guess the choice was made for me.)

And yes, it was "only" rust and crud and other nice stuff from the shower-drain, luckily my toliet is connected through another pipe.

Think I'm going for that beer after all...

I can relate to that. We did/do have a water problem in our basement, although in our case it's from small cracks in the foundation. Over the years I've managed to take care of the worst of it by digging away outside to expose the cracks, patching them, and putting patios/walkways where there was formerly grass/dirt. I completely fixed the water problem in my workroom. We still have some problems in some of the other rooms but only on days when we get 4 inches or more of rain in one shot (yes, there is a "monsoon" season in NYC, usually around April and again in September/October).

Re: Oh happy days...

Makarov said:

And yes, it was "only" rust and crud and other nice stuff from the shower-drain, luckily my toliet is connected through another pipe.

Click to expand...

You got lucky. I though for sure it was "other brown stuff." :green:

ABTOMAT said:

Before any of you guys try it, believe me that soapy and naked is no way to use a soldering gun.

Click to expand...

Don't worry, I won't do it and did intend to do it. I'm not up for that much adventure. I hope you don't mind a laugh at your expense.


Well... sorry. I guess this would be a better description of your predicament::candle: :sigh:

Re: Oh happy days...

Visual/psychological/visceral overload!!!