Wells. Septic. Underground pipes. No waste disposal. Clogged toilet. These words/phrases sum up my plumbing woes.
As we tromped around the property before we had even built our home, we discussed having a well and a septic field. My husband grew up with a well and a septic field. He mentioned something about toilets and flushing. I was only half listening. The fact that stuck with me was only that we couldn’t have a waste disposal. Oh how I wish I had been a good listener!
As a married couple, we were drowning — ha! — in bedrooms, space, and bathrooms. The two of us had three bathrooms to choose from. There was never a wait for the bathroom. Come to think of it we never had a toilet overflow. A drain clog. We lived in a sugar-coated world of flushing toilets, drains that drained, and toilets that never ever ever clogged. Ahh, the memories.
With the birth of our first child, there were no changes. Diapers were extracted from the accursed Diaper Genie plastic sausages and promptly tossed in the trash. Potty training didn’t change anything. No clogged toilets even after the toddler was over her fear of the toilet. Add in Child #2…even when Child # was potty trained…still no problems.
Fast forward 10 years…with two parents and three kids and various guests…we are in a nightmarish world of plumbing issues. And by issues I mean SERIOUS issues. Over the last 5 years, we have:
- had a huge series of leaks from our basement plumbing unit thingie. Every single box, bowl, or bucket in our basement was full to the brim with water during our now-infamous first plumbing leak. We had no idea that our plumbing woes would only get worse.
- paid a boatload of money to repair said plumbing unit thingie and associated pipes and valves.
- bought a water softener system and a filtration system that was intended to solve our acid-in-the-water and acid-eat-through-pipes issues.
- had two burly men pull our well piping out of the well cap to fix a teeny tiny pinprick leak that was causing untold damage…underground and in the house.
- bought a plunger for each bathroom and not the decorative kind either. Nope we have the industrial strength version in each bathroom. Unsightly, but oh so useful.
- have scrubbed the green stain off the bath…numerous times. Over the years the green, became pale blue, and now the blue is now a sickly gray. Have not found a cleaner to fully remove the stains.
After installing a water treatment system, we have had no more problems with acidic water “eating” through our copper pipes. But, we still can’t effectively flush the toilet. 8 times out of 10 I need a plunger in hand as I flush.It’s a royal pain.
Oh, and a not-so-good and very much ongoing issue is that when we lose power, we lose our well. Without power we can’t run our well pump, without a well pump there is no way for water to come out of the taps in the bathrooms, or the toilet. If I get advance warning of a storm coming, I will run a bathtub of water. At least with a tub of water, we can scoop water out of the bath to flush a toilet. With hand sanitizer at the ready and a tub full of water, we can last in our home without power for about 24 hours before having to stay with relatives.
Our kids are now of an age where I don’t have to remind them not to flush or run the fawcets when we lose power. Thank goodness. What is your plumbing issue or should I say nightmare? Share below, so we can commiserate with each other!
