A week after our basement flooded, the carpet and pad had finally dried out and Joel & Daniel wielded the Rug Doctor over the whole house from 4-10 pm on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday morning, Joel's first class didn't start until 9, so Daniel took off for his 8:00 class and Joel stayed to finish the other half of the basement carpet. As he was getting ready to leave, Andrew came racing up the stairs and said, "Water is pouring in again!" Sure enough, the septic system had backed up because of the frozen drainfield and we had more water in the basement. This time, thanks to Andrew's quick response, the carpet was mostly untouched. Joel left without the Rug Doctor to bring Sarah to softball practice (Willmar had spring break this week so practices were in the morning), Pete & Andrew cleaned up the mess and used the Rug Doctor on the part that had gotten wet, and then I returned the Rug Doctor and picked up Sarah. We couldn't run any water until the septic tank pumpers came and did their work, then we gratefully started using water again - until Thursday morning when we again had a leak! I forget who caught that one, but after a while Ross the plumber came over in the afternoon and blew out the pipe, and we were back in business.
Friday morning I had the thought that I should check it. There was some water on the basement floor, which could have been from before, so I just put a bucket under the pipe outlet where it had gushed out earlier, and decided to check on it when the load of laundry started draining. I told Sarah, "I'm going down to check the septic; if it starts leaking, I'll call you and tell you to shut the washing machine off." Unfortunately, I said this right after Andrew had pointed out it was April Fool's Day, so she suspected a trick. When I saw that water was gushing out again, and called her on the intercom, she queried, "Are you serious?" and didn't shut off the washer until I hollered it and she heard the water in the background.
This time Ross came out and finally discovered the true problem - a tree "root ball" had grown into the pipe and plugged most of the opening. The slow draining in our bathroom sink, which had been going on for a week or more, was now explained. The guys had to dig up the pipe with a backhoe, pull out the ball, repair and replace the pipe, and fill it all in again, but now everything works.
I didn't think of this before, but how often do problems in our lives work that way? We think we've solved it, only to find the same symptoms coming back, because we identified the wrong problem.
Anyway, as Sarah said while we were using the office bathroom, "If we were used to an outhouse, it wouldn't be a problem!" We take so many things for granted, and only appreciate them when they're gone. Thanks You, Lord, for running water, working septic systems, electricity, people who can fix all of the above, AND Your gentle occasional reminders that all these things are extras. The people we love are our true treasure.
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2 comments:
Recurring problems will just continue to become nuisance until you get to the bottom of it, and fix it from there. That scheme applies to all aspects, and I see that’s exactly what you did with your frequent basement woes. I hope that treatment did the trick.
Lynn Williamson @ DAL Builders
Problems like these continue to be unresolved, because what we often identify as the ‘cause’ is merely a symptom of larger hitches. Hopefully, that last fix will suffice to solve all your basement problems. You did a good job with wrapping your mind around these things. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Gregg Hogan @ American Basement Solutions
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