Plumbing Fiasco #2

Last Friday while I was in San Francisco the house sitter called to tell me the sewer line was backed up again. She had cleaned up the mess and was going to shower at her friend’s house a couple of blocks south of our house. She had washed the dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher. She would stay at our house but shower at her friend’s house on Saturday and Sunday.

When I returned home on Sunday afternoon I did a very small load of laundry to test the system. The sewer line backed up into the bathroom next to the office. I called a plumber and spent another $300 to have the line cleaned out. After the plumber left I noticed that the shower in the bathroom off the family room was littered with food debris (pieces of carrots, mushroom, and celery) from the back up. I had specifically asked the housesitter not rinse food down the kitchen drain for fear of a backup. I guess she didn’t remember my instructions. Then I noticed that there was no toilet paper in either of the bathrooms in the main part of the house. She had used five rolls of toilet paper in seven days (I had stocked the bathrooms before I left so I knew how many rolls were in each bathroom). I thought this was rather excessive but a friend advised me that women use more toilet paper than men.

Today the plumbing company returned to give me a second bid on replacing the sewer line. The cheaper bid ($5995.00) involves a backhoe and removal of the fence by the driveway and the fence at the back of the property. The excavation will also involve our neighbor’s yard (Tom & Sheila). The bid does not include the cost of repairing the landscaping in both yards. The second option ($7085) uses a Perma-Liner that replaces the clay pipe. Only one hole is dug in our yard and most of the plantings are preserved. K and I are leaning toward the second option so we don’t have the repair the landscape in both yards. It’s a good thing I’m getting paid soon.