I Heart Plumbers

Haha, so yes, it's true. Plumbers have definitely been a large part of my life for the last five months (yes, today is my 6-month anniversary of living in my house!!) As some of you may remember, my plumbing issues began about a month after I moved in. Go here to refresh your memory, or read up on the past to help you gain a better understanding. So, fast forward another month after the previously mentioned episode and hear it all starting again in the plumbing in my house the night before my open house!!! Yikes! I definitely called my plumber, Pete (yes, we were on a first-name basis by now), who instructed me to call the city because my problem wouldn't be happening this soon after the last incident. So, I called the city, and out they came to perform their own clean-out of the system. Problem solved.
... or so I thought. Fast forward three more months. And picture this: I am painting furniture in my living room late at night while doing some laundry. The toilets begin to make this strange noise (imagine blowing bubbles in your drink with a straw), and then, it happens - everything stops and you hear that terrible sound of water (among other things) come UP into your bathtub. Oh yes, lovely. It is now 11:30 at night. I can't call Pete at 11:30 at night!?!? Nope, I sure can't, so I call my mom and I go spend the night at their house! Haha. I wait and call Pete the next day and he comes out to work his magic. This time, I know the problem is not solved, so I decide to try to be smart and use my home warranty. Unfortunately, it didn't work out quite the way I had planned, but I DO now have properly functioning plumbing and a completely torn up front yard. As I mentioned in my last post, they were quite intriguing as they dug a hole that they could jump in and they disappeared! Ridiculous. Remember how I said I really wanted pictures, but I didn't want them to think I belonged in the loony bin? Well, as my luck would have it, they had to go to Home Depot for a part, so what did I do? I definitely grabbed my camera and went out to the hole for pictures!!! Get ready...
Here is the tractor they used to dig the gargantuan hole...

In the very center of the picture, you can see the infamous hole.

And here it is!!! The brownish pipe that is sticking out in the top of the hole is the city tap. The pipe that is strewn in the middle of the hole is my old pipe... more on that to come below...

Here is where you can see where my old pipe belonged and ran from my clean-out to the city tap.

So onto that old pipe... apparently, when a previous owner of my house had the sewer pipes replaced, their plumber failed to finish the job. They replaced the pipe from the house to the clean-out, but the house owner is responsible for everything up to the city tap. So, there was a 4 foot section that had old pipe that "never should have been put in the ground" according to my second plumber (whose name I never got). The pipe that you see strewn in the hole was basically rotten and had no bottom. Basically, nothing could make it through the pipe because it wasn't 'smooth' on the inside. My plumber could stick his shovel THROUGH the pipe - that's how rotten it was!! So yes, they replaced it, and hopefully, I will have no more problems for a very long time. I've already put it to the test... I did two loads of laundry in one day. And four people took a shower within an hour or so time span, and NO backing up! So, thank you plumbers, for fixing my problem and for always being there. I've never known how important you are to the human race, but if anyone is ever putting you or your profession down, know that you will always have a supporter in me. I will always be grateful for properly functioning plumbing system. And, I'm fairly certain my bank account will be grateful that you finally fixed the problem once and for all! And one more grateful comment... my little brother/lawn service is grateful for the large amount of dirt you left in the yard covered with hay that now prevents him from being able to mow the lawn in this ridiculously hot weather. Clearly, I am grateful for plumbers tonight... who knew?!