Last Wednesday this is where Dave spent most of his day. He was up on the roof snaking all the pipes. The previous Sunday we had major issues with toilets overflowing and the bathtub backing up. Our plumber came over late Sunday and snaked a couple pipes and finally got a hold of some roots. He left soon after that saying that we needed to call someone else with a camera to get a better look.
Tuesday we still had issues. More gurgling. By now we had the routine down of what to do to avoid major overflowing. On top of that, when Dave was trying to fix things he found more issues with the master bath plumbing and all the fixes he did with the sinks came apart. We called the plumber again. We could tell that by now he was over us. As if we were breaking the pipes on purpose just to annoy his ass. But by now I was about to fucking lose it. Nothing worse than having young kids and having basic stuff like faucets and toilets not work.
Monday Dave and I got into a huge fight over how to tackle all the problems. Dave was annoyed because he felt all our pipes needed was more snaking. He had snaked the same pipe the plumber snaked when he found the root knot. He had moved past the ball of roots so the problem couldn't be that huge if his snake got past the clog. Dave didn't want to spend $500 minimum to get a guy to tell him A: the problem was already taken care of or B: they'd gouge another $2000 at least to break ground and repipe. But the other option was for him to do it and Dave had to work and was feeling awful from allergies.
We finally came to a conclusion. I'd call our regular plumber and get him to fix the minor issues. Then I'd call a company to come and look at our pipes with a camera but we'd schedule it for Thursday. Wednesday after working half day Dave would come home and try snaking it himself but I'd call one of our handymen to come help him with the process. And so that is how Dave spent most of Wednesday on the roof. He ended up doing it himself. No one was available to help. But he fixed the problem BIG TIME!!!
In one of the roof pipes Dave found about 16" of old garden hose! He thinks it has been there for a long long time. I think otherwise. I swear about a month ago I heard someone on our roof. Dave thinks it was a possum or raccoon but I swear it was a human. Dave says the hose is super old and not thrown in a month ago. I think someone threw an old hose down our pipes.
Anyway, he solved the problem and our pipes have been great since. During the process of trying to unclog our drains we did put down an entire box of Borax. I was told it can unclog the thickest of drains and it kills roots. It's also the only thing that kills ivy.
Everything seems to be ok and back to normal. Well, everything but my choice of a plumber. I'm pretty annoyed that he obviously didn't want to help us when we were literally in shit. Even when he came over the third time to fix the minor things he didn't finish what I needed him to fix. I had to leave him at the house while I picked up P from school and when Dave got to the house not long after I had left he was already gone. The wax seal on the guest bathroom toilet wasn't fixed as I had asked him to do. I called him to ask him how much I owed him and no return call or anything.
Finally he called yesterday to let me know he had been back on Friday but we weren't around. He said he went up on the roof and snaked more pipes! I find that rather ballsy to get up on someone's roof, when they're not around, without permission, and then go two full days without telling them. I'm sad to not use him again. I liked him but this last visit upset Dave and then caused a fight between the two of us and then this up on my roof without asking is just too weird for me. I already have a new name and number with many validations. NEXT!
Labels: plumbing
