Bathroom Flood Update

Last Friday, the drain in the sink in my bathroom clogged. Since I used to work for a plumber, I knew exactly what to do (or so I thought).

At first the sink was just draining VERY slowly, so I took a plunger to it. That only made the problem worse and the sink stopped draining all together. So I poured some drain opener down the drain to see if that would clear the clog.

I waited for about an hour, but the sink wasn't draining. So I decided to run a snake down the drain and see if that would clear the clog. Low and behold, that worked and the sink drained very quickly. I was happy that I solved the problem.

I proceeded to clean up the mess in the sink and washed up when I was done in that same sink. I dried my hands then turned to leave the bathroom. I looked down and saw there was water all over the floor. I saw it was coming out of the bottom of the vanity.

I opened the vanity doors and low and behold, there was chemical laden water all over the place. I looked closer and saw water still leaking out of the pipe from the sink. You know the pipe, the u-shaped trap right under the sink drain.

I took the two large bath towels Brian and I use and put them on the floor to soak up the yucky water.

I then went into the pantry and got one of the large 50-gallon garbage bags I have and laid on the bathroom floor over the towels.

I then removed everything from under the sink and placed it either in the sink (I closed the drain first) or on the floor next to the vanity.


I placed a container under the leaking pipe and used a roll of paper towels to soak up the rest of the water in the vanity. (Don't worry, I put on rubber gloves first)


Then I got a pipe wrench and removed the pipes under the sink.


I looked at the trap and being plumber trained, I saw that the snake I used to try and clear the drain had punctured a hole in the trap.

(NOTE: Never use an electrical snake to clear a drain or the same thing may happen to you)

My training also assisted me in evaluating why the sink didn't drain. The pipes I removed from under the sink were clogged with hair and other equally disgusting foreign matter.

I cleaned out the pipe and took them up to the local hardware store to get replacements.

Then back to the house to install the new pipes. Don't they look pretty?


That's not the end of the story.

Once I put in the new pipes I ran some water in the sink and found out the sink was still clogged.


WTF do I do now????!!!!!

I know!!!!!

Ask Google what to do!!!!

Which I did.

I taped over the sink overflow, and plunged like crazy.

Nothing.

I repeated the plunging.

Still no luck.

I plunged like a mo-fo!!!!

That worked and the sink drained just fine.

The moral to this story?

If you have a clogged drain, either tape over the sink drain and plunge like a mo-fo and see if that works...

AND

...don't ask me, cause I have no idea what the right thing to do is. I thought I knew what to do and just made things worse.




OH SHIT!!!!!

I just realized I tossed the wet towels down the basement stairs on Friday so I could put them in the wash and they are still there!!!!!



Oh yeah, one more thing, don't ask me about doing laundry either.