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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!!!
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!!!