SEWER DISASTER AWAITS US AT HOME

‘Trouble Comes in Threes’ – they say

As if the hassles I had had at the hospital weren’t enough, we were greeted upon return home by a sewer disaster. 

“We have a big problem,” my darling wife announced ominously, as if I could do something about it on my leg and a half.

“What problem?” I asked skeptically, having experienced “mountains out of mole hills”-problems before. 

“My toilet is backing up,” she said and demonstrated it.

Indeed. 

Our first aid with the plunger failed to unclog it or any other toiltets in the three bathrooms.

“Ok, I’ll call around for a plumber,” I said.

Within a couple of hours a Roto Rooter crew showed up. Two young men, both called Diego.

“It wil be $700,” Diego 1 declared.

“What?” I nearly fainted. My wife was also rolling her eyes at the figure.

“Well, we have to bring in the equipment with cameras to flush out lnes,” Diego 1 explained.

It’s not like we had much of a choice so I told him yo go ahead.

About an hour or so later, Diego 2 asked me to come with him to the bathroom.

“I have something to show you.”

The sewer cable, or the drain snake, as some call it, with a camera attached to the front, had been pushed through 70ft (21.5m) from the toilet inside the house toward the street, and they still could not find the blockage.

“But we are hitting something hard now, and the cable won’t go any farther.”

“What do you think it is?” I asked.

“Probably a tree root. And it’s at a depth of at least 6ft (180cm).”

“Which means?”

“Which means we have to bring a backhoe and a special depth camera to locate the exact spot.,” Diego 1 said while marking where he thought the spot was with white spray paint.

“When?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Which means we cannot use the toilets tonight?,” I concluded.

“Right.”

“How much extra?”

$10,000.”

“What?” I said and then repeated it slowly. “Ten thouand dollars?”

“Yep.”

Diego 1 then proceeded to explain why it is so expensive.

“Basically, it is because you have a customer over a barrel,” I muttered.

I double-checked the quote with my AI buddy. He confirmed that it was within a reasonable range.

“Ok, do it,” I told Diego 1.

The Next Morning: Action

The next morning, a couple of different young men from Roto Rooter arrived with their heavy equipment. They spent about 4 hours excavating and reconnecting the lines. The diagonis was confirmed. Here’s the culprit:

They installed the new pipes. Later in the day, another crew arrived to flush out everything from our sewer lines to the street and the city sewer.

And that was it: About $10,800 actually with taxes.

Modern life feels solid — until what’s buried beneath it decides otherwise.

Remember that old cartoon? “What you don’t know CAN hurt you”

Now, I am wondering, what will be the trouble #3? Something on the roof?

(since we’ve had the ground level and the underground hassles).