I Hate Plumbing!

Jim DeLaney

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
6,919
Location
Austintown, Ohio
So... Last night, after dinner, wife is cleaning up and suddenly says "We have a serious problem. The kitchen sink won't drain." Sure enough, it's half full of standing water, so I get the plunger.

Several tries with the plunger, to no avail, so it's down to the basement, move some stuff and junk out of the way to access the drain pipes and clean-out port.

Standing on a ladder, with channel-lock pliers in one hand and a bucket in the other, I gingerly unscrew the cap on the clean-out. Not quickly enough, I try to get the bucket under the pipe, so I get soaked in dirty sink water along with whatever else was already backed up in the 2" pipe. Yech!!! Of course, it's all over the basement floor now, too. Yech, again!!!

Trying a snake down the pipe yields no resistance for about 25 feet, then it's like hitting a wall. Half a dozen trips in and out with the snake gets me gobs of junk out of the pipe, but no forward progress, so I (after checking to make sure I had a no-hub sleeve in the shop's plumbing box, I cut the pipe at the 25 foot mark , using a recip saw. Found the blockage right away - I'd cut right into the middle of it. So, after cleaning as much gunk (technical term) out of the pipe, I ran the snake through it again - causing great gobs of gunk to fall out of the pipe onto the floor - neatly missing the bucket we'd put under the pipe. A few more passes with the snake got that part of the pipe cleaned out, then on to the other portion - beyond the cut. Fortunately, that portion was only about six feet, into the main, but it had an elbow and two 45s in it, making getting the snake down it hard to do. Finally got it all cleaned out - after about an hour and a half.

By now, it's after 9:00 pm, and we've still got the floor to clean up and disinfect. Got all that done, went back upstairs, got out of the sewage drenched clothes, hosed off, and took a well-deserved trip to the hot tub, where I relaxed until bedtime. Slept well last night, though.

This morning, it was back downstairs to mop the basement floor with disinfectant again and begin putting the shelve and other stuff back where it was before the debacle.

Can I say again that I HATE PLUMBING!!!
 
I hate plumbing also!

My son-in-law had some friends over to put a new tub surround in his home. May I just say that the three of them together know nothing a plumbing at all? They got most of the surround up over a very butchered Durarock wall. Unfortunately one of the helpers attached the mixer valve 1/2 inch too close to the interior of the wall. So much so that they had to cut the durarock around the entire mixer so it would poke through. That's when they called me. Obviously when I went to put the knobs on the faucets all the trim pieces stuck out way too far.

We had to tear out the surround that they had already put in and remove part of the Durarock so I could get behind the mixer with a chisel and remove enough material so that it set back properly.

We got it all back together so that the knobs would fit properly but then found out the stub out for the spout was an inch too short. Several trips to the local plumbing supply, some shark bite connectors and copper tubing and a lot of not so nice words later it's all together.

I'm with you Jim, I hate plumbing.
 
Yup, been there many times, old house used to get tree roots in the clay tiles. I finally started putting the copper sulfate down the lines every 6 months and didn't have any issues after that.

Last week I went to install a new kitchen faucet, after 10 minutes of trying to get the connections loose from the faucet I gave up. I'm going to have to remove the sink clips and pull the whole thing out to really get after them, a project for another year. ;) Like when we remodel the kitchen. :)
 
I don't mind plumbing in general. You know, when you're running new stuff and such as that. But, I don't like the emergency stuff. Emergencies never happen at a good time. Of course that's why they are called emergencies, I know. At least you were inside for the most part it sounds like. My last plumbing disaster was outside in 30 degree weather, with high winds and danged wet. But, I am glad we are both up and running. And, it certainly is OK to hate plumbing. I'm starting to gain a distaste for it myself. :D
 
Actual unretouched photo from last night:

Brighton%20plumber.jpg
 
Lol so that where my new boots went.

Ditto on plumbing although i will say we have it easy today.

In my teens helping my Dad back in SA around 1972 everything was solid galvanised pipe. Oh boy we cut and threaded and used hemp to seal join. NOW THAT STUFF IS A REAL pain in the butt.
We did an entire laundry both not having a clue. I took the brunt of the blame for anything that went wrong. Lol.

So with copper, copper compression, sharkbite and pex its really a walk in the park still not a fan.
 
My son, (in the electrical trade) says three basic rules apply to plumbers:
1) Water and other liquids, run downhill.
2) Payday's on Friday
3) Don't eat the last corner of your sandwich.

There may be others, like never start a plumbing job when the stores are closed.
 
Top