My bathroom sink’s drain was getting clogged again, time to take it apart and clear it out. It should be about a 10-minute job, but I have a problem: I’m just a little too big to stretch out on the bathroom floor, so some contortionism is required. Plus I’m not exactly anyone’s idea of a handyman. You’d think a childhood that included an erector set would count for something; but then you don’t have to be a contortionist with your erector set.
I’ve also seen the Three Stooges try their hand at plumbing, so I hope I’ve learned what not to do.
To my astonishment, I got the job done in 15 minutes. What a man! A living legend! Move over, Bob Vila! Then I turned on the water and the pipes leaked.
Aha. On the floor lay a little clear plastic washer that had fallen out of its place without my noticing. So I had to empty the cabinet again and do the whole job over, not knowing where the washer was supposed to go, having to reassemble the drain several times before I found the right place. I turned on the water once again: this time, no leaks.
I hope I should not have said “no leaks for this particular moment.”
Please, not that.
Ha ha! Our downstairs bathroom sink has a clog somewhere in the pipes under the house. We’ve called a plumber a few times but since the crawl space is so small and has a dirt gravelly floor, months later they still haven’t shown up. Unfortunately, no plumber we’ve contacted will come out and since there aren’t many good ones in our area, they are not hurting for jobs so aren’t desperate enough to come here. Looks like either my husband or I are gonna have to figure it out for ourselves because I’m getting really tired of not being able to use the sink. But at least it isn’t the toilet. I guess there’s that. Merry Christmas!
Now **that** sounds bad!
Clogged drains are a really unpleasant fact of life. We once owned apartment buildings, and we went through a lot of that. Sometimes doing it ourselves, sometimes lucky enough to get a plumber who would come and do it (at a very high price, of course), and I am certainly glad we no longer own the apartments, and I use draino or liquid plumber regularly.
I’ve heard those chemicals will eventually wreck the pipes, though.
Murphy’s Law strikes again! Just think how much you would have had to pay a plumber to do it. That’s what I think when I move my lawns – the money I would have to pay for someone else to do it.
I just would’ve been ashamed to call a plumber to do what ought to be a simple job that even I could do.
We have used the chemicals for years, and never had a problem. I could be wrong, but it seems to be working fine for us and everyone I know.
Well, it was a plumber who told us that. Maybe he had a selfish reason for it.
Try pulling, not pushing, on a plunger
Over 24 hours later I finally got to this post…it didn’t leak again did it?
Not yet!
Glad to hear that Lee! Good job!
I have an uncle (mother’s brother) who can fix many things. For example, he fixed Mom’s sewing machine that stopped working.