Please Provide Plenty of Pluming Problems

Please excuse the alliteration but over the course of the last 2 months we have had just about all the plumbing problems we can handle here. PC is just about going bonkers trying to figure out how to not only fix things but also how to pay for the fixes.

Last March we had the floor drain in the laundry room back up on us. This was the worst backup we have had. We figured the same method of fixing it would work, you know run a snake down the cleanout? Well this one was a no-go. It made matters worse because part of the snake broke off. Our next option was to send a camera down the drain (can you say $$$) well just for the camera crew (no we did not get a hollywood contract out of the deal) to show up and put a camera in our sewer pipe was $300 plus. They pulled the manhole cover in our yard, and ran the camera all the way to the end of the main line coming from the house. Can you guess what they found? Nothing. We thought that for sure they would find a blockage with part of a snake in it. Well, they backed up, and ran the camera up again. This time we paid particular attention to the junctions coming in to the main line. We found the downstairs shower (they have a camera finder to tell you where the camera is underground), and the main pipe from upstairs, and the downstairs toilet. That is all. Anyone see a problem yet? What about the kitchen drain, and the laundry room drain. Why aren't they connected to the main line? The plumbers came into the laundry room and kindly pointed out to me that there has been some drain work in there already. Some of the floor had been replaced already, and guess what, it was obviosly for the missing drains. Well, $3600 dollars later, they busted out the concrete floor, and connected all the drains in the house to the main line.

Whew! plumbing problems solved right? Think again.

Last weekend, I noticed that the water near the downstairs shower that we thought was coming from the dwarfes not utilizing the shower curtain properly was actually coming from the location near there where the drinking water comes into the house. In fact, it appears to be through the same hole. Yesterday I tried to remove some of the wood and framing around that location, and loosened one of the weld joints just before the main shut off valve. That allowed even more water to come in. The ground water from our spinklers was already comming in through the hole, and now drinking water was coming in from the hole in the pipe joint. Thankfully the city utilities has an emergency number and they came and turned off my meter. I only hope that I don't break it more while trying to fix it today. I hate to be the optimist, but odds are slim since I'm dealing mostly with galvanized pipe. If I do make it worse, it may end up as a $1200 repair to re-run the main line from the meter into the house.

Wish me luck.

PC