Just one of those weeks...
Aug. 7th, 2007 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teyrnonWell, now this is really shaping up to be one of those weeks. Late yesterday afternoon I kept hearing these odd coughing like sounds. I followed the sounds into the bathroom where I found dirty water rising out of the drain. This is the first time I've ever seen the plumbing back up at a place where I was living. I didn't really know what to make of it so I called my brother to see what he had to say. He drove out here from the office, where he all but lives these days, and took a look. He opened the cap under the house and drained it into a bucket. To finish off he dumped in some hair & grease clog remover. Simple, huh? I wish.
The past couple years there's been a patch of grass at the edge of the yard that stays greener and grows faster than the rest of the yard. I started wondering if maybe this drainage problem was related to that patch of grass. From past experience in other houses over the years I've found that when a particular spot of vegetation is growing exceptionally well and robustly it's always sitting on top of a compromised septic tank. I explained my concerns to my brother and that I had a suspicion that the sewage line ran at a angle from the house bisecting that particular spot somehow. The mysteriously vigorous spot of grass was not at all on a straight line with where the sewage exits the house.
While he was explaining that to me we noticed a soft spot of dirt amidst that really green grass and decided he was going to see how soft it was. We got the shovel from the garage and he proceeded to do just that. It was pretty soft and he kept digging until he got to about a foot or so down. We both watched as the filled with water. It smelled very strongly of sulfur to me. W said it smelled like sewage to him. At that point we knew it was time to figure out who to call.
Thankfully the water bill listed a 24 hour emergency number so we called and they sent someone by to look at it. They arrived about two hours later. The three guys who showed up were very friendly and took a look at it and at the plumbing under the house. They didn't think it was the sewage line, because they'd found a small blue pipe close by the hole; the water line from the county and figured it must be a water line leak on the county's side. By time they'd arrived the water coming up into the hole didn't smell bad at all. It just had a slight musty smell to it. In other words it didn't smell like sewage. They told us they'd send someone by in the morning to look at it and see what needed to be done.
Well, we'd flushed a good bit of water through the system between our discovery of the leak by the street and their arrival, in order to finish out what we'd been doing to clear the blockage. So, the water that was coming through the sewage line was more than likely mostly clean.
Right, I think that's enough for now. I need to get ready to walk over to my brother's house. I need to wash some clothes and I'll be spending the night there as I did last night. It still isn't fixed so I need to go really light on it until it is. Could someone remind me to write up the second half of this tale of woe tomorrow, please?
The past couple years there's been a patch of grass at the edge of the yard that stays greener and grows faster than the rest of the yard. I started wondering if maybe this drainage problem was related to that patch of grass. From past experience in other houses over the years I've found that when a particular spot of vegetation is growing exceptionally well and robustly it's always sitting on top of a compromised septic tank. I explained my concerns to my brother and that I had a suspicion that the sewage line ran at a angle from the house bisecting that particular spot somehow. The mysteriously vigorous spot of grass was not at all on a straight line with where the sewage exits the house.
While he was explaining that to me we noticed a soft spot of dirt amidst that really green grass and decided he was going to see how soft it was. We got the shovel from the garage and he proceeded to do just that. It was pretty soft and he kept digging until he got to about a foot or so down. We both watched as the filled with water. It smelled very strongly of sulfur to me. W said it smelled like sewage to him. At that point we knew it was time to figure out who to call.
Thankfully the water bill listed a 24 hour emergency number so we called and they sent someone by to look at it. They arrived about two hours later. The three guys who showed up were very friendly and took a look at it and at the plumbing under the house. They didn't think it was the sewage line, because they'd found a small blue pipe close by the hole; the water line from the county and figured it must be a water line leak on the county's side. By time they'd arrived the water coming up into the hole didn't smell bad at all. It just had a slight musty smell to it. In other words it didn't smell like sewage. They told us they'd send someone by in the morning to look at it and see what needed to be done.
Well, we'd flushed a good bit of water through the system between our discovery of the leak by the street and their arrival, in order to finish out what we'd been doing to clear the blockage. So, the water that was coming through the sewage line was more than likely mostly clean.
Right, I think that's enough for now. I need to get ready to walk over to my brother's house. I need to wash some clothes and I'll be spending the night there as I did last night. It still isn't fixed so I need to go really light on it until it is. Could someone remind me to write up the second half of this tale of woe tomorrow, please?
