Yesterday my neighbor’s connection to the city sewage pipe ran backwards. His basement toilet became a fountain of raw sewage. He called me at school to give me the good news.
When I got home, I hoped that my drain pipe wasn’t doing the same thing. It wasn’t. But water was coming through the wall on his side and had filled my basement with about three inches of sewage. And by the time any help came, it had risen to about six inches. Yuck.
The neighbor had already called the city, but I did too. They assured me someone was already working on it. Heh. Someone did eventually show up. They were very nice. There was a crew that worked on the sewer lines outside to fix the original problem, and there was a crew that had a nice big water pump. The pump guys sucked the water out of both basements.
They said the next step was that a cleaning crew from the city would come and disinfect things. They’ll arrive sometime today between 8am and 4pm. I guess it’s nice to at least have SOME idea when they’ll come. In the meantime, I’m supposed to clear the basement a little if I can.
I’ll finally get my basement clean!
First of all, yuuuuuuuuuck.
Second, Denis – those are GENIUS boots!!! Full points for creativity!
Third, you’re going to burn all that stuff, right?
I didn’t realize that toilets running backwards was an option.
It’s called a bidet.
Lloyd and Karla – you BOTH made me laugh!
Thanks to the knowledge of Brad’s “problem” my two extra hours of sleep this morning (yes, 2-hour delay today) was filled with an awful dream! I had a dream that Brady stopped by my house and we were chatting about Brad’s nasty situation. Then Brady said it was a problem all over the city and suggested I check MY basement. When I opened the door, my son was knee-deep in it and was trying to clean it up!
Ewwww & sorry!!
How have you managed to stay so calm AND still be funny while wading in muck? “fountain of raw sewage”–HA!
Good luck!! And I hope you’re able to salvage some of your basement treasures.
I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t at least give me a nod for orchestrating your clean basement. I do believe I am to be credited here. 😀
So, will you be making at least one trip to the dump today?
PS Don’t forget after pictures, please.
Oh, I’m so sorry. We had water in the basement this summer, but it was just regular water, not water with floaties. Good luck!
At least Brad’s “water” was filtered by the wall that separates his house and his neighbor’s house!
Yeah, but his water still touched floaties.
poo tea
Geez Brad, you’re getting it at both ends aren’t you! I hope your roof doesn’t fall in, what with all the snow we’ve been having!
(2 hour delay today…YAY!)
Shouldn’t your Sham-Wow have been able to soak all that water up in no time?
this is an awesome test of the Sham-Wow! Let’s see it!
We had this happen a few years ago – such a hassle! But it precipitated a new floor in our basement, which was pretty fun – to replace the wet, ooky carpet.
That really stinks…get it….stinks…poo stinks, but at least you get you basement professionally cleaned!
Yeah, but it’s the the government cleaning his basement. Any guesses on how that’s going to turn out?
Haha! They only “cleaned” it. After they left, I cleaned for four hours. It’s be-U-tiful. I can hardly wait for tomorrow’s post!
I’d been wondering about poor Max in all this, then saw his little head in the second shot and thought, “Golly, goodness – don’t let his little feet touch any of that stuff!” I see the kitty litter tub down there (God bless plastics, eh?) and can see why he was confused. Poor baby…
We used to use the basement bathroom just for our cats (when we had two sibling felines) – even cut a cat door in the human door for them. Then there was the big February thaw when 22″ of snow suddenly became about 18″ of water in our basement when the sump pump failed. Needless to add, the litter box, etc., has been in the upstairs bathroom ever since. Nothing sadder than seeing a kitty float by while trying to negotiate doing his or her “business”…