so my toilet blows up...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Last night all was well in the Head house hold. I go and buy some good gloves and ear muffs so as not to freeze in this cold front we have coming through the DC area, Kohls has a good sale on so everything is cheap. I then decide to get a movie since it’s early and some tea.

I decide to rent Citizen Kane to add some culture to my movie watching which of late has been B slasher flicks. All is still well in life. I get home, warm up the water, switch into my new PJ bottoms that have golfballs and little golfers all over them (I heard the snickering the back pipe down) I then proceed to use the bathroom so as not to have to stop the movie in the middle.

This is when the happiness come crashing down. As I proceed to urinate I notice that the bathtub has filled with water. Strange I think. Then I notice that the toilet is leaking. What the hell? So I try and flush the toilet hoping that something will happen, and it doesn’t.

Luckly for me I live in an apartment so even though it is late I can get ahold of maintenance who come over in a few minutes. It’s now around 8:30 or so and the movie is around two hours so I still have a chance to watch it if they finish quickly.

The first guy to come over starts by using a wet vac to get all the water out, it’s not helping much. He then proceeds to pull the toilet so he can put a snake down it. I’m not doing much, trying to watch the football game since it too loud for the movie but the game is boring. I pull out my Count of Monte Cristo book, hey I need some culture and I’m almost finished with this part, and start to read, it’s now around 10.

The first guy now has around an inch of water in my bathroom and now the carpets are getting wet. This isn’t plain water either remember it’s backed up water. :mad: Since I live by my self and am looking for a real place the majority of my stuff is boxed up, right next to the bathroom. Fortunatly nothing gets wet, at least I don’t think it did.

Finally the guy decides that he needs help, first he brings the eletric snake. :eek: So now it smells and is really noisy in my place. The guy decides now that it would be best to call for backup. A few minutes later another guy shows up. Finally after three hours they get whatever was stuck, it’s now around 11:30 and I have been up since 5.

Now both guys have to start the clean up and put the toilet back. One guy pulls up my carpet to get rid of the wet padding and then brings in a fan. So now I have pulled, wet carpet with a fan underneath of it. I am told it would be best to leave the fan on all night. :rolleyes: Now it’s around midnight and I need to get up at 5 and they are finally gone. I’m so tired that I don’t even notice the fan.

This morning I wake up, barely I might add, and almost forget about everthing, til I almost step on the spike strip that holds down the damn carpet. Now is the time to find out if I can use the toilet and take a shower. Everything seems to work fine, which is good. I get dressed and almost walk out of the bedroom when I think, but the carpet is still wet and if I wear my socks out they will get wet I best take them off. I guess I got enough sleep to think a bit.

Today they are supposed to come and fix the carpet and clean it was well. I hope so since I really don’t want a torn up carpet in my place. Now I hope when I got home I don’t have crap floating around my place, I try to keep it at least a bit clean.

2

A couple weeks ago my water heater sprang a leak and I didn’t discover the problem for at least a couple hours until after it happened. It was 11:00 at night by the time I figured out where all the water that was all over my living room floor was coming from. All I could do was shut the water off and deal with it the next day. I had to take a day off from work to get a new water heater installed, get the mess cleaned up and file an insurance claim. They had to rip up the wet carpet and I am still waiting for someone to put new carpet in, so it’s been a long, painful ordeal. Fortunately I didn’t lose any furniture or other valuables to water damage (just some high school art projects that I had stored in a box near the water heater). At least my situation involved clean water, so I realize that it could have been worse, as your situation seems to be. Best of luck to you in getting things straightened out.

3

Sucks to be you, Edward. I had THREE places flood out; two of them due to backed up toilet.

The first one had a spout a foot high that was pushing up the toilet seat. My dog was swimming amongst the turds.

The second one was someone else’s backup, but it filled my apartment. They tore out all the carpeting (I was left with bare concrete for 6 months before I finally just moved out).

The third one was the case of the amazing melting snowdrift. My apartment acted as the “catching basin” for all the snow that melted. Again with the no carpet, but I finally got some, after only a few months.

In the case of a toilet backup, they can’t get it clean enough (for me, anyway). You should demand new carpeting due to health issues. Good luck!

4

So will we see a name change to Edward the Broken Head?
[sub] somebody had to say it…[/sub]

5

“Every fall the trees are filled with toilet paper, every spring the toilets explode”–Dean Wormer “Animal House”

6

Oh that sounds delightful!!

One of my toilets is leaking… I’m glad I can turn it off and have 3 others to choose from. (they built this place with an insanely high number of bathrooms)

7

Just a quick question. When you stepped on the tack strip did the tack bread the skin? A tetanus shot may be in order.

8

Nah I’m not gonna change my name, unless it happens again. I hope they come by quick, I still have their fan though so I got that going for me. I understand they are pretty good about this kind of thing. The carpet isn’t too bac, it’s really only a couple of square feet by the bathroom and the water I don’t think was too dirty. I’ll check it out when I get home and see what I might need to do about it.

I should though just blame it on Opal, she was the last person to visit me! :slight_smile:

9

That should be “break” the skin.

10

No I actually was smart about that too and put a rug over it and I didn’t step on it. I just hope I don’t have to get my swim suit out when I get home though.

11

It wasn’t me!! It wasn’t me!! those poodles were already floating around in there when I tried to flush!!