Life of Wry

Of course, right? It’s plumbing. There are no good stories with plumbing.

After determining that the slow drain issue was our problem and not the city’s, we called Hall’s Plumbing (at Ganesh Works’ recommendation). They first had to locate the line, then they had to dig up some perky new bulbs.  This is what they discovered:

Yesterday’s backed up toilet was today’s smooshed, undulating orangeburg sewer line in dire need of replacement.  (Maybe not dire, but if you’re rolling the dice on the life of your compromised sewer line, you best not miss on your bet.)

Orangeburg is apparently a sewer-line technology used in the late 50s that proved to be poorly thought through.  (Though, now that I think about it, it did last some 58 years.)

So instead of waiting for the next leak and/or clog–we have both now–in the line that stretches from our house to the city’s sewer system, we are coughing up $5000 to replace the pipe altogether. This means digging a trench across the entire backyard, removing the damaged pipe, and then replacing it with the new one. Bonus: it will be made of a tough, modern material and will certainly outlast us.. so hopefully we can cross sewer drama off the list of future homeowner problems–for us, as well as the next generation.

Tomorrow, bright and early, Frances and I will be temporarily relocating all the native grasses that we just planted a couple of months ago, and which are now in the line of fire. The plumbers will also be taking up all the newly re-laid rocks in the dry creek bed, including the brand new barrier cloth that was installed a year ago. They’ll be moving large boulders that were carefully and artfully placed by the rock people, taking out a number of other shrubs, and we may lose a crepe myrtle or two. It will be a mess, with muddy dirt piles everywhere. [Hangs head.]

All for the cause.  It’s a good thing, I’m sure, but oh so frustrating about the yard. Oh so!