The Sewer, Again

So, our brand-spanking-new sewer line started backing up. It started the day we did 3 loads of laundry and ran the dishwasher twice, so we thought that we had just overloaded the system. Except in the coming days and weeks, it took less and less to get a backup, and eventually we noticed that there was (brace yourself) toilet paper outside in the stairwell, having washed up from the drain. Luckily, that was the ONLY visible evidence of grossness. Then, eventually, it got to be that one load of laundry did it, and by Thanksgiving flushing the toilet a few times in not-so-rapid succession did it too.

We had a guy out on Saturday after Thanksgiving to rot out the line. He got a 4" and 6" spinny cutter head through, but it was still, in industry terms, "peanut butter." He wanted to come back later and shoot a high-pressure jet of water through to clear the line so he can camera it. Oh, and that'll be $800, on top of the $200 (at a discount, because it didn't work!) that the day's rotting cost.

I had been planning on taking Monday off work, but the guy could only come out on Tuesday so I sadly trudged to work on Monday and took Tuesday off. Well, come Tuesday, the machine is broken so he can't come. Argh! Remembering that our realtor, Agnes, had reccommended a plumber, I said let's just call these guys and if they can come today, let's do it.

When I called them, the owner was very suspicious about the jetting, and asked if I had been dealing with a reputable plumber, because jetting seemed an extreme way to solve to problem to him. He said he'd call his supervisor, who would contact the teams and then get back to me as to whether they could come out. The supervisor called, and was equally mystified by the jetting. He said they could probably get some guys out in the afternoon, which they did.

The guys were able to use their camera and do some cutting, discovering that there was a giant clump of roots right where the new pipe left off, under the sidewalk. (The city takes over on the other side of the sidewalk, natch.) They were able to cut through the roots, and reccommended a root-killing something-or-other that you put down your drains every 3 months or so to, uh, kill roots.

Laundry-doing, dish-washing, long shower-taking, and toilet-flushing recommenced, and there was much rejoicing.