Posts tagged ‘DIY’
PLUMBING PROBLEMS: PART XV
PLUMBING PROBLEMS: PART XV
I left the barn, and with the shadows lengthening, returned to the house for a shower and dinner. Laura was busy in the kitchen; I asked her if she has a minute and we sat over coffee and discussed my discovery. I spent a restless night but finally fell asleep and awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking. I headed downstairs and found Laura in the kitchen.
Greeting my lovely wife I said, “Beautiful morning, isn’t it honey?”
Laura half turned and replied, “Think again honey! All of the sinks are blocked.” And as she stepped away I could see the sink was full of dirty water. Can you do something?” she pleaded.
“Let me see if Jack has a snake,” I shouted over my shoulder as I ran out of the house.
Jack was in the garden as usual, and I had to shout a few times before I got his attention. “Do you have a snake?” I asked.
“Of course I’ve got a rake,” came his reply.
“No, a snake, a plumber’s snake,” I shouted.
“No need to shout, got one of those too,” came his answer. “Tell you what, let me find it and I’ll be right over and clear up your plumbing problems once and for all.”
I watched him go into his house and then ran back to mine. By now Laura was bailing the sink out into buckets. The smell was terrible. I had just thought – better you than me, when Laura shouted, “Go upstairs and check the master bedroom!”
Halfway up the stairs I was met by the same sickening smell that filled the kitchen. As I neared the bathroom, I saw an ever-increasing puddle coming from beneath the bathroom door. I glanced out the bedroom window and saw Jack walking over with his snake. I thought of shouting for him to hurry but knew it would be useless.
Jack stopped at the kitchen and put the snake down the drain, met with some resistance, then the drain cleared, and the water flowed down and away. He then went to each of the sinks in the house and met with the same success. As he started to work in the master bathroom, I mentioned that this was where the problem started and seemed to always return.
“I’ll just ream out the drain with the full length of the snake. Why don’t you run along and do something useful,” Jack quipped.
I went to the kitchen to make sure Laura was okay, and that the problem hadn’t returned. Then I entered my office to try to get a little work done before breakfast.
I was at work for no more than fifteen minutes, when I heard a blood-curdling scream; Jack was in big trouble.
PLUMBING PROBLEMS: PART VII
PLUMBING PROBLEMS: PART VII
As the weeks went by, my mind was occupied by the problems I was having with the plumbing. I drove down to the hardware store and bought every drain cleaner known to man, but nothing worked to clear the sinks. But then, they would clear spontaneously. I talked to Jack and some of the other locals about a recommendation for a plumber, someone reliable and not too expensive. They told me about a plumber everyone used that had just retired and the business had been taken over by his son, a young newlywed who was eager to build up his clientele and reputation, so I gave him a call. Two days later he drove up our driveway. DAVE’S PLUMBING was the sign displayed on the side of the panel truck. I opened the front door; we shook hands and he introduced himself.
“How’re you doing sir? I’m Dave Watson Jr. Now what exactly is the problem?”
I described the intermittent clogging of the drains, what I had tried and that nothing seems to work. Dave was a young man, in his mid-twenties, and eager to tackle the job. “I’ll check it out. Could be,” he said, “that you’re cleaning some of the build-up on the walls of the pipes and that’s causing the drain to appear cleared. But the cleared opening is so small the slightest material going down the drain will just clog it again. A snake should ream out the pipes and clear up your problem just fine.”
My wife was gone visiting her sister for a couple of days and Robin needed to be run around as usual, so I asked Dave if he would mind being left alone for a while. If he was done before I returned, he could lock the front door and mail me the bill.
“No problem,” came his reply, “you take care of your girl and I’ll see to the plumbing.”
With the owner and his child gone, Dave went out to his truck to gather what tools he needed. He first noticed the smell as he approached the master bathroom, a horrible odor that convinced Dave that things were backing up in there. He opened the door to an unspeakable sight, he turned to run but was grasped by the neck and pulled to the floor. The stinging pain was followed by paralysis as he helplessly viewed his attacker, then thought ceased.
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