Brisbane, QLD


Thursday, September 17, 2015

POOH

Disaster struck our house the morning before yesterday when sewage bubbled up out of the floor outlet in the downstairs bathroom. POOH what a revolting sight and even worse smell. on ringing our trusty plumber, he informed us that he was very busy but would try to be there in the late afternoon. In the meantime we couldn't use the bathrooms or any drains. By four o'clock I was busting for the toilet and I needed a shower. The plumber had called and said he couldn't make it until the next morning. I called a friendly neighbour (how embarrassing). Kathy was kind enough to let me use her bathroom and then invited us for dinner to save us using the drains. I had been washing up in a bowl and throwing the water over the balcony into the garden. Once I forgot the cutlery in the bottom of the bowl and threw knives and forks into the garden and then had to hunt for them amongst prickly bromeliads. What a day!
Next morning the plumber arrives late. (You don't want to know how we managed without toilet facilities.) After pulling out the toilet and putting a camera down the drain for thirty metres the plumber informed us that the problem wasn't in our drainage pipe but in the council's main sewerage pipe. So we had to call the council. The plumber, Matt, warned us they would insist that it wasn't in their pipes and he  told us to tell them to ring him if that happened. Sure enough that is what happened. After the council workmen called Matt, they proceeded to dig up my garden to prove to us that it wasn't the council mains blocked.
So a digger on caterpillar treads rolls into the garden and starts digging to find the manhole which had been totally covered by a mat of palm roots. However, when they were able to put a camera down the hole and into the main sewerage pipe they found that there were roots in the main pipe at the junction of our pipe, which was about 40 metres across the front of our yard.
They informed us that they would have to dig up that part of the garden to find the inspection point at the junction of the pipes. This took them the rest of the day, while we still could not use the bathroom.
Soon trucks and more men arrived and the digger tramples over another part of our garden and proceeded to dig a huge hole looking for the connection. (They had a plan and a vague idea). Those lovely trees will have to go...boo hoo.

This is what got trampled by the digger.

Bill happily watches on as he was so pleased that it was the council pipe and not ours otherwise we would have had to pay for it to be fixed.

Many plants get dug up too but the workmen said they would replace them.....I hope so.

Even though it was sad to watch I wanted them to hurry up and get it found and fixed so I could uncross my legs and use the bathroom.



 Hours later and a hole big enough to lose a man, they finally found the observation cap for the connection. They inserted the 'worm' that revolves and munches up the roots and cleared the pipe enough for us to be able to use the bathroom and drains. Yoo hoo relief at last! It was now late afternoon and time for the workers to go home. They said they would be back tomorrow to put in new pipes. The mind boggles at the thought of not being able to use the bathroom again.
However, when we woke today it is raining, which we desperately need but not now!
 We woke to rain and a hole with a ladder in it.

A few workers arrived and covered the hole and disappeared. What next?

Luckily much of the garden survives.

Newsflash: Our family from Los Angeles is returning home on Saturday. Hope the sewer is fixed by then. They are staying with us for a while before heading to Melbourne.

30 comments:

  1. Oh ewgh ugggh! What a terrible time for you. I laughed though (even while sympathizing!) when I pictured you with eternally crossed legs. I wish you lived in my street: we have two indoor toilets and showers. We have a toilet and shower behind our garages. Our neighbors on our left, (our kids) have two indoor toilets and showers and one bath. So you could have "abluted" and communed with nature to your hearts' content at the Hedges hospitality! Hope all is fixed by the time the family arrives. Good luck. xx

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  2. Oh dear!!!!!!!!!!!!
    You have a problem and this rain (needed) is certainly not too bloody welcome
    in your area of Daisy Hill right now.
    It is now pouring here on my side of Brisbane.

    Councils and drainage problems here in Brisbane!!!!
    I say no more - completely beyond belief the incompetence of them.
    I believe that the council hierarchy ( or is that incompetents?) believed that these
    now ancient pipelines would last forever and that tree roots would never encroach!!!
    Potties to the fore????
    Good luck.
    Colin

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  3. I can't think of anything worse than not being able to use the bathroom and impending visitors - it just gets worse. I think I would have to leave and live elsewhere until it's fixed.

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  4. What a drama! Your poor garden looks so lovely too. I did laugh at you throwing the cutlery off the balcony.

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  5. Oh what a mess to deal with. So sorry about your garden. You make me curious how you managed with your "no toilet" problem, I can imagine buckets? :-)

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  6. Hello Diane, I am so sorry that happened to you. Not being able to use the bathroom and shower is a problem. And your poor plants and flowers, so sad. I hope it is fixed quickly. Good luck!

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  7. What a mess! And your poor garden. I guess the silver lining in the sewage cloud is that the expense is not yours. Cross your fingers (and legs!) and I hope it is all back in order for your guests.

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  8. Oh dear, I feel so sorry for you. We have had major problems this year, but as it is a septic tank we had to pay up. The tank was new when we moved in in 2005. The guy who did it did not do the job properly and we have had to put in another new one. The 10 year guarantee was a waste of time as we then discovered not only had he gone bust (I am not surprised), but only his carpentry work was covered!! He came highly recommended by another British couple!!!!! Hope you soon get it all sorted out, t'other Diane

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  9. Gosh Diane, that is terrible, hope it gets sorted out soon. I'll plait my legs in solidarity. :)

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  10. I loved what Jo said so i copied it Oh ewgh ugggh!.. yowsa what a mess to your garden and the thought of no bathroom is a horror.. and looking for the forks and spoons in the flower beds, uggggh... hope they get everything fixed before family gets there..

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  11. Oh my gosh, that is just , um, crappy ( although that is a milder word than the first one I thought of). So sorry. I think I'd have run away from home about the third or fourth hour ...except for being afraid they might dig up the house if you weren't there to " supervise". Glad you didn't have to pay for it anyway and hope they replace the landscaping.

    Great to news about your family.

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  12. Wow what a mess. I am glad it was their problem that is expensive. I also hope you have it fixed soon. Rain well you need it. Company will understand:) Hug B

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  13. That's terrible! I do hope they return your garden to some sort of order.

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  14. OMG how terrible ! I hope you had a number of chamber pots available or at least a big bush in your garden for emergencies ! We had that once too many years ago. But I notice that workers and city services are the same apparently all over the world ! Hopefully everything is settled when the family arrives ! Your peaceful life will be over for a little while !

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  15. Good grief, what a fiasco Diane! Your poor trees and plants and poor you!!! Hope it all gets sorted out before your family arrive.

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  16. Really disaster and your garden is nice

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  17. Go Baby go - good weather today for this "crappy" business to be sorted before the LAX 4 someone
    arrive.
    Maybe (??) the council mob are there early. I notice on my side of Brisbane that the drainage teams
    do start very early.
    Good luck
    Colin

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  18. My gosh - what a disaster for sure! Hope they can repair your dug up garden, but I know you must just be wishing for a working sewage system! I, too, hope it's repaired before your family arrives.

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  19. Since it's almost Saturday for you as I write this, I hope the sewer is repaired before your family arrives. This is the kind of excitement you definitely do NOT need under any circumstances.

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  20. Good heavens, what a mess and inconvenience.
    Good news re your family coming home....that is very pleasing..

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  21. OMG!! How aweful Diane .. It's at times like this when we realise just how much we've become dependant on modern facilities! Bit of a nightmare, hope all is sorted now!

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  22. OMG!! How aweful Diane .. It's at times like this when we realise just how much we've become dependant on modern facilities! Bit of a nightmare, hope all is sorted now!

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  23. Oh my how terrible, many years ago we had a bloody lot of problems with out toilet blocking, the problem stopped after a neigbour moved we believed she was putting stuff down the toilet that was causing the blockage, it was always a problem for the water board to fix, not with our pipes. Thankfully during the day we would go down to either the local shopping centre only a 3 minute drive or to Maccas only a couple of minutes away too, at night we were screwed. I once had a woman from the dept of housing maintenance line tell me to go over to a neighbours house during the night, I asked her how would she feel if a neighbour knocked on her door at 2am wanting to go in a do a shit in her toilet, she was not amused, I then said which neighbour should I ask, the drug dealers, the prostitute, the bikers or the crazy man with mental health problems this left her speechless and she said she would put the order through as urgent the time the blockage happened on a Friday and she had told me it would be Monday before anyone would be here, as it turned out the plumber turned up at 5pm said he would check and ring the water board as he knew by then what the problem would be.

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  24. Not good! Makes you realise how smelly the world must have been not that long ago!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  25. Oh goodness ... you could certainly have done without this!
    Hope it gets fully sorted soon.

    All the best Jan

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  26. Oh no! What a mess.....hope it is a distant memory by the time your family gets there!

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  27. Sounds like a nightmare. I can only sympathise. I know the smell from when I had a flooded cellar from the main drain being blocked! Hope it's fixed by now in time for your guests.

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  28. What a saga! I presume it was fixed before the family arrived. At least it's the right time of year for new plants to grow quickly to regenerate the garden. We had council come through our back yard and a neighbour's yard 7 years ago, needing to improve possible problems. We lost a lot of trees and privacy, ending up with sunshine and grass seed - and views of neighbours. Like you, I was grateful it was at their expense. The children had days of entertainment watching....

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  29. No fun having something like that happen! I have a friend that had her sewer back up in her house and flooded the whole first floor with sewage. They had to move out of their house for a month. No fun. Glad you got it fixed

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  30. yes, this definitely qualifies as a disaster. you poor thing. please forgive me but i laughed at the bit where you threw the cutlery out with the sink water. i'm glad things have been sorted.

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