[Ian Robinson]

Not the most pleasant task ....


The first time was not long after I've renovated the bathroom .... some bits of cement that had been "sealing" the wastes (tops of underground pipes) had blocked the underground pipes , no amount of pumping water or flashing the loo would shift it, and the water drained away very slowly. .... dambed plumber who did my new bathroom pipework should have been more careful to make sure no bits of concrete fell into the pipe .... obviously setting up another job for himself later when the pipe was blocked .... never trust a tradies and watch them like a hawk when you use them ....

So I took the inspection plate off , had my wife watch what happened and put water down the pipe access hole in the down pipe under the loo as fast as could by hose .... she reported some was coming through but only a trickle , and eventually the water backed up and I had a whiffy dirty and discusting overflow out through the hole I had hose stuck into.
Nothing for but to visit a equipment hire place and get hold of one of those electric pipe snakey things ... once I managed to coax around the bend of the air hole next to down pipe .... I was able get the pipe unblocked , wife reported bits of concrete and lots of nasty stuff came out .
Cheaper the getting the plumber out.

Another time I found the bath wasn't draining very fast .... turned out being hair and other smelly stuff, horrible smelly mucky job clearing the stuff out .

I now regularly check the pipework under the sinks in the kitchen , bathroom and laundry , they come apart easily enough and can cleaned of scale build up and scum and blockages easily under the tap outside.

I have vivid memories of my dad getting into the front yard and the access space between the side of the house and the side fence , digging up the pipes and clearing blockages (well formented brown and yellow stuff) .... I never want to have to do that.