Domicile Colonoscopy.

My house had a colonoscopy tonight.

Well, what else would you call it when some professional runs a camera down the poop chute looking for unwanted growths.  So what if it’s the sewer line and the growths are tree roots?

The good news is that my pipes look pretty good.  Almost all the roots were hair sized and just growing through the joints.  No damage.  So, it looks like I’m not going to have to do the $9,000 replacement, he just got out his other machine and cut out most of the roots.  He’ll be coming back later in the week to treat the lines with root killer, and he says that if I kill the roots every 2 years or so I should be fine for years to come.

The only thing I find weird is that the camera has a microphone.  I mean, what would you have to listen to down a sewer line?

Oy Vey!

For the last 2 days I’ve been without a bathroom.  Thursday morning I flushed the toilet and it backed up into the tub.

Friday I went through a ton of Liquid Plumber and then bought a drain snake and tried to snake out the drain.  To no avail.

Today the plumber came and cleared it out.  For a while at least, because I have roots growing into the sewer line that goes right under the house.

Monday or Tuesday he’s coming back with his drain camera to see how bad the damage is.

Best case scenario, which he says has a 75% chance, is that they can salvage the pipes and just power flush and root kill the drains.  Cost: $1,500.

Worst case scenario is the pipes are not salvageable and they’ll have to break up the concrete in the basement and replace the pipes.  Estimated cost: $9,000.  Right now, I wish I was a renter.

If I ever needed to inherit some money from a long-lost relative, this is the time.