The Return of the Kitchen…kind of

We originally gave ourselves two months to be without a working kitchen. We realized pretty quickly that we would never make that goal.

Six months and eleven days was the goal we should have set.

Tracy the Plumber returned today to connect the sink and the dishwasher. 

So we are back with a mostly working kitchen. There are two issues that need to be cleared up.

First, even though the sink is running, the drain is not. It’s very slow. We already have another plumber here (Justin from Action Plumbing) and he has snaked the line. The problem is a tight turn in our pipe that the snake cannot make. The blockage is clearly beyond that “T”.

So, Tracy is going to cut a portion of the drain that has been abandoned. That will allow for the other plumber to return later today and run the snake the rest of the way down the slow running drain line.

Here is our problem area. Tracy has proposed to cut the pipes and connect up a smooth transition that the snake will go through.

When Tracy removed the pipe, this is what we found.

Pretty gross and it smells great.

This is how it looks now. I’m just waiting for Justin from Action Plumbing to return and run the snake again.

3:17PM: Justin has just arrived and is getting his equipment into the kitchen. 

Justin has run his snake and as a result, our slow drain has turned into no drain. He was not able to get the snake around a 90 degree turn that goes into a stand pipe and now it appears to be plugged.

I called Tracy to let him know and he is returning TONIGHT to fix it.

I know he had plans for a fishing trip which we have now screwed up. I told him Monday would be fine but he insisted on coming now.

7:12PM: Tracy got here about an hour and a half ago and we set to work to drain out all the water that wasn't moving and then to replace the rest of the pipe.

Cutting the bad pipe out was an ordeal and quite messy...and stinky. But it all went well and Tracy was able to quickly replace the old, rusting cast iron pipe with fresh new PVC pipe. 

Wherever the clog was, we removed it and now, the sink is working like it supposed to.

Between the two plumbers and all the supplies, this was a thousand dollar day.