By this
point, it’s just about time for all our friends to start showing
up. Folks arrive to find me trying to get food together in the
kitchen, avoiding use of the sink as much as possible, and the boy
outside in the blistering Arizona sun, wrestling with an
unbelievably long plumbing snake, the slight whiff of sewage
beginning to seep forth from the drain. This latter task,
naturally, turns into a group effort, as all the males decide that
it is their manly imperative to get this plumbing problem of ours
fixed. Not the least because I’ve informed them that everyone
should feel free to use our backyard for any bathroom needs that
might pop up during the course of the evening.
Eventually, it’s getting dark, I’m hungry, and it’s clear
that all the snaking in the world isn’t going to do anything,
with us doing it, at least. I call everyone in for dinner, have
them clean up; this, you understand, involves going outside again
to use the hose, since we can’t use any of the drains in the
house. We eat, we laugh; we avoid drinking too much to prevent the
need for the bathroom facilities that for this evening, it seems,
are out of commission. Tomorrow morning, first thing, we’ll call
the plumber. Sometimes you just have to call in the pros to fight
your plumbing battles for you. |
How
to Keep Your Plumbing Happy A
little preventative maintenance will go a long way towards keeping
the plumber away …
tubs | Cover
the drain with a strainer to catch hair and soap bits, which tend to
be drain-unfriendly. Yes, it’s gross to have to pick up that swirl
of hair that forms in the strainer every time you take a shower, but
honestly, it’s ten times nastier when you find your tub backed up
one day, go in to investigate the problem, and find yourself pulling
out enough accumulated hair to form a wig.
toilets | Go
easy with the toilet paper, which is pretty much the only thing you
should be putting in your toilet (barring the obvious bodily
excretions, naturally). Never, ever, ever flush any feminine
products. Ignore the fact that the box describes those tampons as
flushable: trust me, they lie.
kitchen sinks |
Drains should always be covered with a strainer to catch food
remnants that can get trapped in the pipes. Avoid doing your
vegetable peeling over the sink, since peels have a tendency to slip
past the strainers and find their way down the drains. And even if
you have a garbage disposal in your sink, it’s not a great idea to
ever toss fibrous foods down the drains. Still another common kitchen
sink culprit is grease. Just because it’s liquid doesn’t mean it’ll
slide easily through the pipes – grease has a tendency to separate
from water, solidify and slowly accumulate on pipes. The best way to
deal with it is to pour grease into an old tin can or jar, to be
discarded once it cools and hardens. |