Being homeowners, from time to time we suffer the slings and arrows of home ownership, namely something breaks and needs to be fixed..NOW!
Such was the case with our main sewer line, which, as confirmed by two independent authorities, really needed to be replaced if we wanted the brown, foul-smelling slurry to stop backing up into our shower and bathtub, and onto our floors.
The work completed, and water turned back on, we joyfully put our new plumbing to the test. And the master toilet promptly backed up, venting its spleen and bile, as it were, all over the bathroom floor.
As one might imagine, especially after having spent all that money on a new sewer line, we were less than amused.
We called the plumbing service back in. This time only the toilet was involved – that much we could tell, as everything else was working perfectly, and nothing else had backed up.
We were duly advised that we needed to replace the toilet. “Ok”, we thought, “we’ve trusted these people this far (and they were recommended by a contractor whom we trust a great deal), what’s a toilet between friends?”
The installer came and installed the new toilet.
It promptly backed up the next day, all over the floor, following my husband’s first test run, as it were.
We called the plumbing service back out.
This time we were advised that the problem was not the brand new toilet, but… my husband.
“Your husband, his poo is too big.”
Say what?
“What do you recommend we do?”
“I dunno, maybe you take him to hospital.”
“Really, we should go to the hospital because you think his poo is too large? Is there anything else we might try?”
“You maybe keep two sticks by the toilet, and he smash and crash the poo before flush.”
Really, I couldn’t make this up.
Instead we replaced the toilet with a better brand, with a larger colon. Yes, the tunnel at the back of your toilet through which the waste descends is called the ‘colon’.
And, oh yes, we switched plumbers.