How many plumber's does it take to fix a simple plumbing problem?
GREAT QUESTION!!!
Apparently 5, PLUS spectators!!!
Here's the story:
At the beginning of the week I heard the shower drain gurgling when the washing machine drained. But it was late & we all had to work the next day. On Tuesday I made a mental note to call my Dad, the ULTIMATE plumber my whole life. I put off calling him that day. Then on Wednesday morning at 6:30 A.M. we discover our toilets ALMOST overflowed & the shower was draining slow after my husband got out.
The rules were set at 6:30 A.M…. NO FLUSHING!!! LOL!!
At 8:30 A.M. on Wednesday morning I called our Landlord, J.M., and he said he's make some calls. I called into work & went ahead and got our sitter. Did some house cleaning and made bathroom runs to QT (QuikTrip).
OH - Did I mention IT'S FALL BREAK!!!! 1st day of fall break with 4 kids. The 2 little ones picked Wednesday to decide they wanted to try to potty train. That didn't happen!
Anyway, around 11:00 I called & left our landlord a message. He called back around noon & said his "guy" was out of town, but he was calling other plumbers to see if he could get someone.
Let me stop here for a moment… City of Tulsa with a population of 389,000+ people with MANY surrounding towns. Probably HUNDREDS of plumbing companies from one guy handy man jobs to huge companies!! How hard can it be to find a plumber?
So NOTHING on Wednesday!!! Borrowing neighbor's bathroom, going to QT, and HOLDING it a lot!!! Wednesday evening after Cody got off work, we tried to run a snake down the drain & do basic stuff. That succeeded in overflowing the toilet in the downstairs bathroom! Not just a little overflow, but a LARGE amount of water rushing across the floor & under the walls until we could shut the water off. Cody called the landlord to see when someone could come. Landlord said they were coming around 8-8:30 on Thursday morning. It takes 24 hours to get a plumber out???
1st Day - Not too bad. Alison left, so down to 3 kids.
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Thursday - got up & made a decision to use the toilet & not flush. LOL!! It's ok right? The plumbers were coming right away. WHAT A JOKE!!!
8:30 A.M. ~ 1st set of plumbers show up in an unmarked van with the ladder on top. "Plumber" comes to the door wearing overalls that are WAY too big!!! Long curly gray hair & kinda creeped me out. The helper with him stayed in the van until time to "work". "Plumber" comes in to look at our bathroom where we've pulled the toilet because of a leaking seal & discovered a rusted flange. (nothing to do with the current problem. Doesn't look in the hall bathroom where the toilet overflowed. Goes outside to look for the clean out to run the snake in & see what's stopping up the line. "Plumber" & "helper" look around and hit a shovel into maybe an inch of dirt in a few places, has no probe to poke INTO the ground. Looks around on the roof for a vent to go through (for those who don't know, yes plumbers can clean out your system that way). Doesn't find one. So "plumber" comes back inside to the master bathroom & looks down the hole. He says he only has equipment to clean out the drain from the outside and not the inside. DUDE!!! It's the SAME FREAKING STUFF!!!! Then I got creeped out further when he was looking around at the house (inside MY house). He got my phone number & said he'd call the landlord & then call me to let me know what to expect next.
8:30-11:00 A.M. visit QT to check out their bathrooms. LOL!! Then Cody called the landlord to see when the next plumbers were going to come. Get this: HE HAD NO IDEA!!!! The 1st plumbers didn't call him!! Wonder where he found these creepy characters? So he said he'd call someone.
Another 2 hours go by & Cody called the landlord AGAIN!!!! Landlord said that he called some people, but they didn't get back with him & that he called a guy from Coweta that might be able to make it. FOR REAL!!! Like almost 30 minutes away???? That's crazy when William's Plumbing is in the middle of town & Mullin Plumbing isn't much farther away than Williams.
Around 1:00 the landlord came by "to see what was going on". He knew less than I did I think. But he overflowed our toilet in the hall bathroom AGAIN!!! Then he left saying that he now knew what he could call a plumber & tell them to fix!
Finally around 3:00 another plumbing company's plumber came. I had HIGH HOPES: he had a name on his van, a uniform & TOOLS!!!! He used a probe to look for the clean-out, with no luck. He brought in a 100 ft snake & supposedly did a little work & said he couldn't reach it either. Problem: Our property doesn't run 100 ft from where he was to the end of the property!!! He said that the landlord would have to call a BIGGER company like Roto-Rooter!!!
So nothing the rest of the day. Did a lot of running back & forth to QT & borrowing the neighbor's bathroom.
Cody called the landlord around 6:00 P.M. & the landlord did not answer. No dishes washed, no laundry done, no showers!!!
I called my dad for advice & he said this was one of the MOST COMMON calls he gets. (He owns a plumbing company in Arkansas.) He said that he can average 25-30 of those calls a day & that any real plumber would have the basic tools & knowledge to do it.
2nd Day: SUCKY!!! STINKY!!! And all around RETARDED!!!
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Friday morning: 3rd morning to get up without the ability to use the toilets or shower!!!! By now - I'm TICKED!!!!! I must admit that I took the quickest shower EVER!!!! Less than 1 minute!! Then had to put on clothes that were dirty, thankfully it was clothes that hadn't been worn too long & weren't "smelly"!!!
We should have packed up & went to a hotel, but packing everyone up & taking the kids to a hotel is a PAIN in the BUTT!!! So, 3'rd day not able to go to work!!
Took Alex to her doctor appointment to get her cast off & pins out of her arm that she had broken. Went to work for an hour. Long enough to ship some stuff & catch up with the boss, then leave again. By now my non-washed hair was driving me NUTS!!!! My head was itchy & I was getting a headache! My "time of the month" was fast approaching so my mood was FAST deteriorating!!!!
Cody called the landlord & J.M. said that he had ANOTHER plumber coming out. VERY good thing because if nothing was done by the afternoon, we were going to call someone (probably kinda expensive) & have them fix it NOW & then take it out of rent!!!
Around 1:30ish a guy showed up at my door. He was Mexican, and had a small truck with a camper shell, but there was a name & number on the side of the truck. He was a little hard to understand & I was ticked (he figured that out really quick). But he talked the plumber's talk & I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I did tell him what was wrong & how to fix it & if he couldn't fix it, we'd call our own person & charge the landlord. LOL!!!
New Plumber & his helper got ALL their tools out & then worked for a while through the toilet drain in our bathroom since that was the best option. They couldn't find the clean out either!!!! This time I actually heard NOISE, so they must be working. Right??? Cody got off work early since he has all his hours in. After about an hour from their arrival time, they were DONE!!!! It was a root almost at the manhole/city sewer line!!! A LARGE root!!!!! Get this: it was about 85-90 feet out!!! HMMM… Didn't the last guy say he went 100 ft out & nothing.
This means the landlord has to pay for it. He was telling us that it was probably something our kids dropped in & then so "kindly" told us that if it was a toy or rag, then we'd be responsible for the bill. HAHAHAHAHA!!!! It had NOTHING to do with us!!!!!!!
3rd Day: Started out crappy, ended up being pretty good!!! Should have happened on Wednesday evening!
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So obviously the white plumbers didn't know "CRAP", but the nice, professional, Mexican plumbers got it!!! Kinda renewed my faith!!
My dad laughed pretty hard when I told him it took 3 trips out by different plumbers (a total of 5 plumbers including helpers). He said I hope your landlord doesn't pay for all those trips out. I kinda hope he did to teach him a lesson. Next time: Call a company that you didn't find in the crappy section on craigslist. (nothing against craigslist)
We had neighbors giving "advice" & lots of friends on Facebook keeping up with the plumbing drama. It is pretty comical with a sad/irritating twist! Next time, we are going to pay for it & take it out of rent. Not doing that for 3 days the next time!!!
Who would have thought a mom would be happy to do laundry again?? I've happily been doing laundry, getting the kids' showers done, cleaning the kitchen back up!!! Most fun??? FLUSHING TOILETS!!!
**Moral of the story: Next time the Plumber's Daughter will get a REAL Plumber to do the job!!!!!**
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