A story from Septic Hell

Well, from the comments, at least I am not alone in my septic misery. And since I'm on the topic...I should have blogged this story before - my sister's adventure in sewage.

She had all the symptoms of a septic problem. Sewage was backing up into her downstairs powder room, overflowing the toilet after a shower in the bath above. Her kitchen sink was also very slow. Sounds typical so far...

She had a "rooter" company come out, once...twice...three times. Snaked from the inside twice, then snaked with a camera (only one technician had the camera). Each time it improved. "All fixed," then it wasn't. The sewer-cam came back with mud on it. This meant that there was a hole in the septic line. Call in the excavators!

Still sounds typical, right? So the excavator digs to the pipe, which was only 3 feet down, not 6, as expected. They called her out to look. The pipe was busted all right, collapsed. Laying right through the middle of the pipe was the brand new Verizon FiOS cable. (AVerizon subcontractor had trenched the cable on her street about two months before her backups began.) Work on the excavation stopped, and Verizon was called, and they sent out a guy. Photos were taken, then (and only then) was the pipe fixed. This is what they saw:

She had to pay for the repair up front, and it cost over $5000. To make a long story short, it took her six months to get repaid by Verizon. They tried to got the sub to pay, but he had a million excuses, including "I don't have the money." Apparently he didn't have insurance either! Anyway, Verizon eventually determined that they were responsible, but it still took months to get the check in the mail.

The punch line is that she then signed up for Verizon FiOS service! (Which rocks, as they say.)

Take My Drains, Please!

I have a feeling that not all is well in drain-land, here. First the kitchen drains were not keeping up with the faucet, then the bathroom sink too (that one gets clogged all the time). Then the shower began to back up a bit during use. And finally, my toilet, the best toilet ever (circa 1974... none of those water-savers for me!) stopped flushing. It has betrayed me!

So, now I have arms like Popeye from plunging my dear old toilet for a week, with little improvement. All I flush down this thing is human by-product, and fish tank water. Nothing exotic. And this is how it repays me!

In the pantry, we've had a jug of "mystery de-clogger" that Dad was talked into buying from the RotoRooter guy, about 20 years ago, when we still had a septic system. Never used it. Claims to be okay with old pipes. I figured, "what the heck." I am tired of having blisters from the stupid plunger, so I mixed it up according to the instructions, and dosed every drain in the house.

The next morning, the sun shone for me and my toilet once more. It's insides are happier now. I will repeat the treatment in a couple of weeks, just to be sure.

But... I have noticed a suspiciously wettish area just outside the house, right where the sewer line exits the house. To me this suggests a broken pipe, which could explain the flow problems.

I am ignoring this for now, in total DENIAL. If it is still wet once the weather dries out for a bit, then we'll see.