New House Plumbing Problems

 Friday night, with 6 visitors staying with us, and 6 others visiting for the night, the toilet started to overflow back into the house.  And, with 12 extra people in the house, that is not a good thing!

So, we told everyone to try not to flush as much as possible before we went to bed, and decided we would wake up early and fix it in the morning.

Saturday morning, we got up bright and early and took a field trip.  We actually took all the kids to home depot to go potty while I got the snake we were going to use to clean out the drain.  It was also the first Saturday of the month, so the kids picked up a project to work on back at the house.

Once we got home from the Depot, it was time to start fixing the plumbing.  Problem was, we stuck that whole snake (25 ft) down the toilet line (after removing the toilet) to not find a dang clog!!!  So, we went outside to try coming from the other direction of the clean out in the front yard.  And we didn't find a clog there either!  Not knowing what else to do, we called a plumber.  Hubby is mighty handy, but even he can't fix everything.  After putting a camera down the line, the plumber was able to determine that the main discharge line from the house and across the front of the house was cracked!  Being that it was less than 3 years old, it shouldn't have been full OR broken.  He fixed the line enough that we would be able to last for several more weeks before we would have to do something about it.  So, for the rest of the day, it was fun as usual (birthdays and pool parties).

The following weekend, the Woods were nice enough to come back and help us fix the plumbing.  It could have waited longer, but there was no reason.  First we had to dig up the pipe.  Thanks to the plumber, who put a camera and a locater down the pipe, we knew almost exactly where to dig.  The kids were nice enough to help.

And Matt was such an excellent supervisor! :)

Once we exposed the pipe, it became clear that when the cable people ran the cable across the yard, they actually ended up cutting across the pipe and breaking it!!  So, it was only a matter of time before it got clogged with dirt from the outside and crap from the inside since it wasn't a smooth exit.  

It was a fairly simple fix.  We cut a piece of pipe to replace the part that was broken, and used sleeves to attach everything back together. 

 Then, the adults took a small break....

While the kids filled back in the hole.

Then we put the grass back on top and voila!  Now, in the future, you can't tell anything happened!   There isn't a dip or mound in the lawn, and the grass didn't die because we watered it for the rest of the summer!  So far, the plumbing is working too!  We are blessed to have the ability to pay for a plumber, to have friends who respect our troubles, and friends who come to help!