Friday, January 2, 2009

Saved by the Smell

So...looks like we're saved!

Our neighbor told us that when they had their sewage backup in the house a few months ago, their plumber told them that they had a pipe in the back that came from our yard and then led down their backyard and into the easement and then probably connected to the Louisville Sewer System. This was on the 23rd.

We called Mr. Herre right away and told him this news. He called the plumber again and they came out on the 23rd and looked and sure enough, we are attached across the backyard.

So, on December 26th, they snaked out the line and dug a big hole in the yard and found a root that was clogging the line, plus about 100 baby wipes! Apparently before we knew you couldn't flush those, when Thomas was under 6 months old, we clogged that pipe with Baby Wipes! He said it wouldn't have really been an issue if it wasn't for the root. We told him we had only flushed 2 or 3 a year since we found out 4 years ago, and those had been mostly accidents. He said, "Yep, well there they all are. They don't ever fall apart or go away!"

Those of you who are "Earth Aware" don't use regular baby wipes, they'll be around somewhere 4 years later!

Anyway, it's all cleared up and running fine now, and won't cost us $14,000! They still have to cover the hole and put in a clean-out access top on it, so if something else happens again, they won't have to dig another hole!

Our Big Christmas Present Huh?

As of today, Mr. Herre filled in the grease trap with sand and a pipe has been inserted to allow the house plumbing to go straight into the sewage line, so we won't even have to empty that thing again.

Worse case scenario is that we'll have to re-dig out that tree root every few years.

MJ

ps- thanks for the support, emails, and prayers, one way or another, it worked! Now if we can just pay for the "minor" work they've already done!

1 comment:

Elizabeth said...

Our plumbing woes have been mostly attributed to roots also. When I told him about the post last night he responded...That's a lot of sh*t! We thought Sam would appreciate that with his recommendation for the post title! Glad it is all working out!