Yesterday morning my neighbour knocked on the door of my house (where I have been resident not three weeks yet) and informed that that when I was shaving some time earlier, the water going down the drain in my basin, along with the hair bits from my beard, were bubbling up into his bathroom sink, to the extent that he had to take it away in buckets.
Uggggghhhhhh.
First time home owner. Weeks of moving in. Financing and the move has sucked up our bank account. Problem.
Okay, so I’m not a handy guy. I’ve never opened up a pipe or done any kind of plumbing work. I don’t have the requisite tools. I’m thinking, even if this is a simple blockage down the line, I’m going to need professional help.
So, I beg my fellow Dopers for some advice:
Can anyone recommend a good plumber in the Northern Virginia area? Preferably someone reliable and cheap, who won’t charge an arm a leg just to make an estimate?
How much should I expect to pay? Can anyone offer a range if it is just a simple blockage?
I’d guess $75 an hour(ish). In DC, there is a company called Magnolia that I’ve used and liked. Never ever use a plumber call John C. Flood. Every neighbor I met when I moved in had horror stories.
I just emailed you directly with the name of a guy we’ve used a couple of times. I don’t recall what his hourly rate was but he seemed reasonable enough.
Is your house a detached house? Condo? townhouse? If it’s detached or townhouse I’d think it might be some sort of problem with the sewage / water lines; if it’s a condo, presumably some sort of problem with whatever piping handles everyone’s waste lines. In other words, it may be something you and the neighbor have to work on together to solve, also perhaps involving the homeowners’ association. It may also be entirely on the neighbor’s side of things though of course even if it’s only the neighbor’s plumbing you’ll want to be helpful (next time it might be his beardly-bits showing up in your sink!).
Anyway - I don’t know if the guy I emailed you about handles Big Jobs that might involve multi-unit piping but it’s somewhere you can start, at least.
Hmmm. If you have separate houses (which your OP implies), then the problem is downstream in the connection to the sewer pipe. This is very likely tree roots penetrating into the pipe, possibly complicated by people flushing non-decomposables (pretty much anything but toilet paper). Of course, there’s always the chance that you parked your moving van on top of the sewage pipe which would, of course, be a Bad thing.
The solution is very likely to call one of the roto-rooter type people and get the sewer line cleaned out. And make sure nothing goes down the drain that shouldn’t go down there.
Never used Roto Rooter so I can’t comment… but regardless of who you use, it sounds like a shared problem if it is linked to your exit pipes. It might even be in the common area. May be worth checking with your homeowners’ association to see what their policies are.
That, or refuse to do anything until your neighbor pays for a DNA analysis of the beardly bits - who knows whether they’re really yours
I called Roto Rooter for a problem but it resolved itself so I cancelled. Does anyone know a reasonable carpenter? I have a guy that I use for a lot of stuff who is reliable but like he is booked up solid and isn’t returning calls.
I second Flood. I’ve heard some absolutely horrifying tales about Flood. The kind that end in lawsuits.
I’ve used Case Design www.casedesign.com for carpentry before. They offer a handyman service. They are a little expensive, but they show up on time, do the work and guarentee it.
