Full of Crap

Or at least I wish that was our plumbing issue. It's not. After a third visit from Parker & Sons (trips #2 & #3 were free of course) our issue is finally known...not resolved for good, but at least we know what we're up against.

Trip #1 - Billy cleared out the obstruction. He didn't know what caused the obstruction, or what the obstruction was, but he cleared it and everything seemed to be working properly when he left.

Trip #2 - Ryan came out last night (Sunday) because the bathtub in the downstairs bathroom was FULL of water...and the toilet wouldn't flush. When we had the black water in the tub last week (trip #1), there was a small amount of water in there. I had washed two small bathroom rugs, so the water level in the washer was on it;s lowest setting. Yesterday, I washed an entire load of whites on the highest setting...so you can imagine the difference in the water level that made it to the tub. Awesome. Ryan cleared out the obstruction again, but also scheduled Brandon to come out today to send a camera down the pipe to find out what the reoccurring problem is.

Trip #3 - Brandon came out this afternoon. SO far he's my favorite...although they have all been very nice, helpful, educated about plumbing, etc. Brandon scoped the plumbing from the outside first and didn't see anything to cause concern. So for fun, I took the desk a part and moved it (again) so he could get to the clean out and scope the plumbing from there.

He found a wad (my word) of what appeared to be TP just stuck in there...not super close either. We flushed the toilet and nothing. We ran the bathtub and the sink and the wad moved downstream with the water. Brandon had me flush about 20 pieces of TP down at one time (I thought I might get in trouble) and it also just sat down there.

Brandon explained (much better than I am going to) that our toilets are "builder grade" (which means CRAP) and they are 10 years old. They don't push enough water when flushed to push "solid waste" through the pipes. We don't use the downstairs often, which explains why this took a while to happen...so the paper (or other "solid waste") builds up until there is a blockage. That blockage is causing the water that is trying to drain to go into the other pipes...which is how my washing machine water ends up in my bathtub. Which honestly is MUCH better than my toilet water ending up in my washing machine...right? :)

So, the pipes are all clear...but we will be purchasing new toilets. The toilets are one thing, but the install price is nearly $200 a piece. Awesome. Mike swears he knows how to do it, but he's the only person I've met that isn't a plumber that knows how to replace an entire toilet...so the jury is still out on who will so the install. (He also doesn't like to say he can't do something...even if he can't...love him tho...whether he can do anything or nothing...why do men do this? Must be the Penis...)

Ugh.

We're exhausted.