My Monday was less rad than your Monday
I went home to McHenry (home of the Rat-tail) this past weekend to put in some quality time with my parents and help them out with some things around the house. Before my planned departure back into the city on Monday morning, I went down into the basement to go through some boxes of my stuff. It was then that I was greeted by several inches of standing sewer water spread through about half of the basement.
You see, we have several maple trees in our front yard, one of which likes to assert itself by waiting until late November to drop its leaves and occasionally running roots into the main sewer line of our house. Every couple of years, the line becomes a might bit clogged, but this was the first time that its contents had actually backed up into the house.
My mom sprung into action with the wet-vac and I ran out to Ed’s Rent-All to pick up a motorized sewer auger. “What’s a motorized sewer auger” you ask?
It’s a small, wheeled device that turns a flexible cable with a bit on the end designed to drill through poo as opposed to the more traditional “wood” or “earth”. You feed said bit and cable into the offending sewer-line, inserting additional 8-foot sections of cable until eventually you chew the clog up and the line runs again. It’s not unlike wildcattin’ — but for stool instead of Texas gold.
So anyways, after about 1 hour and 48 feet of cable, the “pilot drill” that I sent down hit something, hesitated for a second, and then heroically continued on as all of the drains in the basement begin gurgling to life and the “brown tide” receded. Having dealt a withering blow to the obstructing roots, I decided to finish the job off with ol’ ST-2 cleaning bulb attachment. Of course, I first had to throw the “Electric Eel” into reverse and withdraw the cable section by section.
Now, you’re probably asking “but Drew, wouldn’t a flexible cable being withdrawn from a sewer line while spinning at 500 RPM tend to spray stink and sick everywhere, like some sort of fetid Willy Waterbug?”
Yup. Very much so.
After another hour of drillin’ poo, my confidence in the pipe’s ability to safely deliver wastewater to the sewer was restored. I packed the auger into the back of my car and returned it to Ed’s Rent-All. “You know, we also rent out carpet cleaners” the man behind the counter snickered as he handed me my receipt. Truly Ed’s sense of humor was as versatile and effective as his rental wares.
