A Home Owner Warning

WARNING to all New Home Owners:

Before you move into your beautiful new to you home; before you install brand new carpet, paint the walls, install baseboards, and move all your treasures into your beautiful new home, 
Have a plumber clean out your sewer line!



Last night my husband finally hooked up the washer and dryer (our poor children were running low on clothing, hubby and I were good, but I guess thats because we don't spit up or pee our pants). We did a single load so that the children could have clean clothes and hubby could wear clean pants to work (little man had spit up all over hubby's lap (teehee, kinda enjoyed not being the one smelling like vomit))

Then today while I was home with my own two kids and was babysitting a friends two little girls, I threw another load into the wash.  Then around 11 this morning, on my second load in the wash,  I went down to switch the laundry and found a small puddle around the drain. That's not good I though. 

I did not put anymore laundry in the wash.  Stepped around the yucky puddle and got the clothes from the dryer and put the other clothing in.   Nearly an hour later the buzzer sounded saying the clothes were dry. I went downstairs to get them out and found an even more nasty, larger puddle.  A disgusting, feces and toilet paper filled puddle that was still only around the drain.  

Hubby called the plumber in who charged us nearly $300 to unclog the line. They found a lovely gift from the previous owner and a bit of toilet paper clogs 

2 things I didn't know that the plumber told me:
1. The flushable baby wipes are not actually flushable and should not be flushed. 
2. They recommend not to use the thick, fluffy toilet paper, it is extra absorbent and swells in the pipe.

Apparently our house sewer line doesnt line up properly with the city line, so now they recommend having them put a camera down to see if the city is at fault for it so they can pay to fix it so that we do not continue to have the same problem.  

Anyway. I thought that all that I had to clean up this evening was the small nasty remnants from the yucky puddle and the plumbers.  

Wrong. 

So so wrong. 

I went into my craft room to look for something and had this thought pop into my head. (Thank you Lord for speaking to me as a still small voice) I walked over towards the corner of the room that shares a wall with my washer, and my foot felt something damp. I looked down and saw hubbies large duffle bag and thought "oh please, please be coming from inside the bag".  I heaved the bag out of my way feeling the bottom as I did, also wet.  I stepped forward closer to the wall and my foot sank and made a horrible sound. 

The floor was soaked.  

Upon further moving and reorganizing of my craft room, we found that the floor along one entire outer wall was is soaked and one other wall is 3/4 of the way soaked.  

I had to use the shop vac to attempt to pick up as much water as I could. The vacuuming pulled up the carpet out from under the sopping and starting to warp baseboards, and the underlay is also fully soaked.  Its just a giant sponge holding all of the water under our lovely new carpet. 

I vacuumed and vacuumed. Then I sprayed  poured on disinfectant and scrubbed it in. Then I attempted to clean up the nasty puddle which actually in itself was a lot worse than I expected. 

So as I sit and write this warning, our carpet is propped up with fans attempting to dry it and the underlay out, my basement wreaks of disinfectant, and my whole body aches both because of the awkward posture of using the stupid shop vac and because I took a horrendously hot shower trying to clean away all of the nasty from today. 

yupp, thats what caused the damage, a baseball in our sewer.

This is the dreaded baseball and my washer, and the wall that it shares with my craft room. 

You cannot tell by the photo but basically from the wall to the vac is soaked. 

This isn't even all of the water, I took this photo after vacuuming for less than ten minutes. 

The whole time I was cleaning I had a verse running through my head: 

Whatever your work is, do it gladly. Do it as you would do it unto the Lord and not for people.
Colossians 3:23 (worldwide english version)

I know that there are worse things that could happen, but standing in cold poo water soaked brand new carpets, that was not my ideal day. And I know that I was cleaning my own craft room, but I really really did not want to be doing that.  And it took everything in me to try to find Joy in doing it. To do it for Him.  So as I worked I sang a song that Little A loves to sing, well she loves a part of it, Give Me Oil in My Lamp. Apparently it is an old hymn: (here is the part I was singing) 

Give me joy in my heart keep me praising
Give me joy in my heart I pray
Give me joy in my heart keep me praising
Keep me praising till the break of day

Sing Hosannah,Sing Hosannah
Sing Hosannah to the King of Kings
Sing Hosannah, Sing Hosannah
Sing Hosannah to the King