While we were in California for our daughter's wedding - actually during the reception - the young lady who was house-sitting for us called to tell us that sewage was flowing out of the shower drain in our basement bathroom. She called a plumber us and we found there was a blockage in the line between this bathroom and the septic tank.This picture shows some of the extent of the flow of the "black water" in the stain on the concrete, but doesn't show all the wallboard or the installed cabinets that were affected. All of the carpet has had to come out.
I've been owning houses since 1984 and this is the first homeowner's insurance claim I've ever made. Based on that record, I went with a high deductible on the policy for this house - something I'm regretting now.
There's always something.
4 comments:
Reid,
Thank heavens you had a house-sitter while you were gone. I swear things like that only happen when I'm gone. You come back and feel like you are being punished for leaving!
It is a fairly new house, right? Do you have tree roots in the sewer?
Cat -
Funny how that works, isn't it? The house sitter's main function was keeping track of the dogs.
Chas -
House was built in 1991. No tree roots in this blockage, which was directly under the slab. I think it was more a function of the slope (or lack of slope) of the line. Placed where it is, we don't really know what the slope is.
The kitchen is on the west end of the house, and we have a bunch of deciduous trees (an eclectic mix of cottonwoods, aspens, and elms) clustered out there. I'm glad the trees are there to shelter the house and deck from wind and sun in the summer, but we have had issues with tree roots in the line draining the kitchen. We had to snake that ourselves last year with the aid of our nephew-in-law (is that correct?) who's a plumber.
Elms are evil near sewer lines. I don't have as much experience with cottonwoods near a house, but I would not trust them either.
Our Cañon City house had Siberian elms in the front yard, and we learned to have the sewer cleaned every other autumn, or else there would be problems.
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