The Days of Our Sewer

Ummm, just in case you haven't been following this saga all along, here is a quickie recap:

Last May, got 8 inches of water in the basement. Had Roto-rooter out for a ridiculous fee. Had the Home Warranty company send people out. Fees and more fees. Can't fix it...not covered. Oh and can't fix the flooded water heater either - flooding is not normal wear and tear...Called an independent plumber - paid $5000 to watch them dig canyons in my front yard, find not one, but two collapsed sections of pipe - found out from the neighbor that the city pipes had been clogged up...thought maybe this extreme clogging might have caused our problems - claim to the city got denied. Independent plumber doesn't do concrete - filled the canyons in my yard with gravel and left my driveway cut at a funny diagonal. Ordered a dumpster to haul away all the water-logged stuff from the basement. Cleaned and reorganized the basement all through June and July. Started getting seepage again - called independent plumber back out. Wants $3500 more to tear up the sidewalk and replace more sections of pipe. (Scares me with horror stories of broken pipe extending out under the street which according to a city ordinance I will be responsible for re-paving if they have to tear it up...the fees are adding up quickly.)

I can't afford this right before the holidays, so we buy a pump and daily pump the basement sewer water out into the yard. This does not eliminate the smell. Unfortunately, this smell is emitting from Methane gas. The new water heater which had to be put in when we flooded in May has a failsafe switch that shuts off the air supply to the pilot light when a flammable gas is detected. So, um, you guessed it, that switch triggered around Christmas. Once that switch is flipped, it can't be reset. This means we had to replace this water heater too! It's okay, it's under manufacturer's warranty. Wait, no, it's not okay. After a week of runaround just getting someone to come look at it and tell me what's wrong, I get dicked around for another two weeks by the plumber who installed it who apparently can't figure out how to fill out a form to get reimbursed for their labor. They miss two appointments and THEN, even though I requested to speak to the owner 4 times in one day, I have as of yet received no contact from him. Three weeks without hot water later, I called someone else, reported the assholes to the better business bureau and got the hot water heater replaced in 3 days. So that about catches everyone up on the shitstorm of crap I've been dealing with for the last 8 months....

Finally this week, I call the city public works department to confirm that this ordinance of responsibility does in fact exist and also get him to recommend local plumbers. One comes out and quotes me $750 less than the first guys. So I say okay, come on out and do what ya gotta do. They show up yesterday with vans and bobcats and go to town tearing up my sidewalk and yard.

Could it get any worse you ask? Well, actually NO!! It gets better! The plumbers discover that the city's electical pipes are shoved through our sewer system. This means that last spring when the city put the electrical lines underground, they basically FUCKED IT UP big time! The city had four trucks and surveyors and guys out yesterday...looking in the hole and shaking their heads. They paid this plumber for his work and they paid to re-pave the sidewalk...I'm filing a new claim for them to pay for the $10'000 worth of damage and fees we paid for last spring/summer. And hopefully get our driveway re-paved...keep your fingers crossed for me. (Especially after they denied responsibility last time...) Perhaps the epic sewer saga is finally coming to an end...