Having both toilets and the hot water in our shower going out 6 wks after moving into "our new, first home" was brutal! Especially since our first plumber basically told me that there was "no hope" for our master toilet. He put the fear of God in me that our buildings pipes were so rusty that the master toilet was out of business until our entire condo bldg was repiped.
In retrospect, the dude was probably just tired from fixing one toilet and the shower and the last toilet (especially for the meager $55 Home Warranty Fee) put him over the edge.
Still, what he did was soooooo wrong. All I could do was obsess about the toilet and wonder what dire straits we'd be in if the other one went down again. I'd talk about it at dinner until my boyfriend would make me stop. I even had nightmares about it (for real). The tired plumber took advantage of my ignorance about plumbing. My friend Bruce thought the story was fishy since the water was still filling up, it just wouldn't go down. But he's in Mississippi right now, so he couldn't check it out himself.
Three plumbers and a long auger later - the true culprit was found.
A torn off, ripped apart fiber mop head. A dual plumbing team pulled it out - one of 'em said - "I'm sorry to tell you ma'am, but you have got tree roots in your pipes." It seemed kinda weird since I'm on the third floor, but again - what do I know? His partner said, "Huh-uh, no" and, on closer look, we realized it was a mop.
So either an angry cleaning lady or the dude being foreclosed on before us must've done that number on the commode.
Giddy that it was finally fixed, I thanked the plumbers endlessly, gushing that they were "MY SAVIORS." Not sure how to react they just said, "You are welcome, nice lady" and backed out the door.
I am now going to purchase an auger of my very own. Who doesn't want a new, long and strong tool. (Sorry, that one was too easy to resist).
So forget rock stars, good plumbers are the ones who really rock!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Plumbers Rock (and wield a lean, mean steel auger too)!
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3 comments:
So either an angry cleaning lady or the dude being foreclosed on before us must've done that number on the commode.
Would that be number 1 or 2?
Great blog Stacy! Really charming stories and funny visuals. That plumber's truck is ridiculous!
So you're a homeowner now... Welcome to the world of sleepless nights and constant anxiety! Actually it gets better as time goes on. Once you have been feed a bunch of BS enough times, you learn not to overreact. You just learn from your mistakes and ask your friends and family what they would do in these situations. BTW, your rusty pipe, I mean... tree root, no wait... "there's a freakin' mophead in my potty" story sounds pretty frustrating, but at least you had a happy ending, and I assume perfectly working pipes now :)
Our house was built in 1923. It's a solid house, but it's old and things have to be replaced and updated periodically. We call this house our "practice house" because we are learning as we go. Mostly we're enjoying our renovations, but there always seems to be something we would do differently "next time." We've hired a handful of very competent people to do projects in our house, as well as some audaciously rude jerks and some genuine sleazeballs too. Once you find someone who does a great job (and cleans up after themselves), you have to tell the world! In some parts of the country, you can become a member of this service called, "Angie's List." You can get access to ratings/reviews of companies when you need to hire someone to do virtually any kind of job in your home. It's really helpful and I highly recommend it. Check it out or look for something similar in your area.
Good luck and enjoy your new home!
Michelle
Cleveland Hts, Ohio
I think it was number 2!
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