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When it rains, it pours. The toilet in the downstairs bathroom decided to back up, again. Looking at the sewer cleanout in the backyard, my husband determined that was where the trouble was. Once or twice a year, roots grow in our sewer line, catching whatever goes down there. It becomes clogged and we have a big problem inside the house. In the old days my husband would rent equipment and try to fix this himself. (Now he physically can’t.) This is backbreaking work. Sometimes he was successful at unplugging the clog and other times he wasn’t so lucky. That is when we would have to call a plumber. We tried various local guys and most of them encountered the same problem my husband had. They couldn’t push the roots and sewage through. It stopped them dead in their tracks. Then, the job hung in limbo... sometimes for a day... or even a week or two, while they tried to figure out what to do next. This became a huge inconvenience. So while we waited for a solution, we resorted to some very clever bathroom alternatives because the toilet was not available. Use your imagination. I won't elaborate. (Eventually we bought a camping toilet for such emergencies.) The plumbers ultimately figured out that their plumbing snakes... were useless here. They were just not long enough, to push the gunk through to the main sewer... because of the way our sewer line is laid out. When they shut down the old septic tank here, and converted us to city sewage, the line to the street became much longer - approximately 150 –160 feet. That created a situation for us. Most snake reels are about 90 feet long. And most plumbers only carry one reel with them... because they are quite costly... but mainly because one reel usually does the job. But at our house... it always takes two reels of industrial "snake" to deal with the problem. Otherwise there is an immovable object blocking the line. And sometimes even their snakes get stuck below ground, trying to have at it. Only one plumbing company locally has the right equipment to get the job done... Roto-Rooter. So, we don’t hesitate giving them a call, whenever we have an issue. This is the second time we've called them this year. Remember the onions and the garbage disposer? Unfortunately, Roto-Rooter is not cheap. This visit cost us a whopping $260. OUCH... screamed our checkbook! It STINKS! That is including our senior discount, too. Yet, while the plumber was snaking, outside in our backyard… my dear husband was busy at work. He was running all over the inside of the house, HELPING the plumber… by turning on water, in this sink or that, and flushing toilets. I say his time is worth money too. Therefore, at that hourly rate of $260 ... I think my husband is entitled to a cut of the plumber’s proceeds, don’t you? He made a wonderful assistant.
