Today was an inadvertent plumbing day... I butter-knifed out a huge amount of 'park mud' from my 'dog walking boots' right into the bathroom sink that is our kitchen sink.. little worms of solid black mud from the treads... tons of mulched muddy stuff, squashed leaves... yeah, it eventually plugged... oh, sigh... being a woman, ya know, I got the toilet plunger... the one that's like an accordion and squished... it usually does the job... but the sink started projectile vomiting... out the little drain hole near the top... it was really gross.
Black swamp-reeking mud on the wall, all over everything... bleuchheckt... but I plunged away.
Bein' a woman, ya know.
Stubborn one, though. Would not call a man for help, nor let the landlord know.
It was good and plugged. I used a cup to empty the sink of brown water. Maybe I swore a bit too. Probably, especially 'cause my hair wasn't tied back and tended to cover my whole head so I couldn't see and who'd want to touch it with the gucky rubber gloves? Blehuchettt....
Eventually I went to look for the landlord's wrench and it was missing! Maybe the sweet carpenter who took 3 days to put in a door to our apartment took it? Or maybe the landlord has it hidden somewhere upstairs.
Damn. I'd have to ask for help. BUT... remember what my sculptor friend who is a renovator said... the steps... put a bucket underneath... turn off the taps... done... then unscrew... they undid rather too well... and the pipes vomited black mud all over the floor, well not too badly... then I found it... a solid snake of vegetable bits, hair, gawd-knows-what-else and a FORK, a FORK!... how'd the damn thing drained so well before the mud-cleaning boots exercise I have no idea...
Cleaned it all out, scrubbed the wall with ajax, the counter, the sink, the bath (where I'd been throwing everything), threw stuff in the washing machine, etc... but the pipe leaks! A little. Bucket for now. There's a plumber's store nearby, ah ha... and I plan a foray into it to ask for plumber's goo, some kind of thick greasy stuff I have in my imagination that you put where the pipes screw together that will seal them... and plan to do this while avoiding the inevitable 'Would you like a plumber? This guy's not working right now and he can help you....'
And being the independent woman that I am, intend to finish this job myself. Without calling any male friends, "Boo hoo... my drain was plugged but I'm proud to say I cleared it... but the elbow pipe-thingy leaks... help!"
Sigh.
The water is running fine. Jest fine.
Sheath of feeling. Words groping to touch air.
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Kudos to you for your perseverance and innovation! If you haven't already done so, give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done!
ReplyDeleteI believe the goo is called plumber's putty. And there's something called teflon tape that you can wrap around the threads of one pipe before screwing another one onto it, which will further seal the bond. (I didn't realize until now how alliterative plumbing supplies can be....) Mary's the plumbing expert here, so I'll show her your entry and see if she has anything to add vis a vis the leak. (If your gaskets are old, replacing them might also do the trick.)
Plumber's tape! Oh, that stuff's great - I have a roll in storage... it wraps things, and now I hear things can be screwed into it! And plumber's putty - fab. The elbow pipe is so old that one end doesn't even have treads, just a kind of double system where the pipe is held in place by, umm, it's sort of like a tensor's bandage made of metal, with a a few rings around it. And, yes, plumber's language is very graphic, indeed. You'd need the humour with a job like that :-)
ReplyDeleteExcellent assault on the problems of daily living. I always figure that every event like this lets me learn something that I did not know before, which informs my life and my art in new ways. There's a poem in the language of pipes and plumbing, no?
ReplyDeletenarrator :-)
ReplyDeleteThough did I need to know about the gunck in the elbow?
The language of pipes and plumbing? There is a body represented there, for sure. Faucets could be all sorts of things; and screwing things, well, yes, plumbers do that rather a lot I should think. With plumber's putty. And wrenches (wenches?), screwdrivers, and other nuts & bolts sorts of things. But then, the whole thing is rather anal in the end, surely. Oh, see what you've started!