It could be worse, not sure how, but it could be.
The first month we were here was incredibly treacherous. The moving company refused to deliver our furniture, so we were all sleeping on the floor, with just a little bit of our clothes in bags, we had some of Winston’s toys in order to entertain him. It was dreadfully uncomfortable. Note to all others reading this: Never do business with Nationwide Moving, or Cobra Van Lines—they are shysters—I'm not convinced that they aren't running some outright illegal trafficking/smuggling or some other nefarious activity. I just don't believe that any company can be *that* bad genuinely and innocently, they know what they are doing. And if that wasn't bad enough, keep "sleeping on the floor and having no furniture" in mind while you continue reading.
We had to manage a constant revolving door of contractors who were redoing the flooring, carpet, and painting. Nine days later after arriving, we were confronted with a major systemic backup of the sewer system. The toilets and master shower were backing up with sewage that was at least three inches deep on the entire shower floor. We noticed that every time we used a faucet in any area of the house, the shower would continue to back up with more and more raw sewage. What's up with that?! Since the sinks were draining slowly and causing more backups, we immediately discontinued use of all water and drains in the entire house, for fear that the sewage in the shower would overflow onto the rest of the bathroom flooring.
Shortly thereafter, as if it wasn't already confusing enough, we started to notice water pooling up on the garage floor coming from the condensation lines of the water heater. We had just replaced the water heater with a new one since the old one was found to be at life-expectancy by the home inspection. Soon we realized that the garage water was raw sewage as well. Since we had no idea what the cause of the problem could be, we scheduled appointments with Roto-Rooter Plumbing to cable the lines of the system and with a septic service to assess the septic tank.
Roto-Rooter plumbers arrived later the same day and cabled all the lines of the house. The problem seemed to be resolved, but just three hours later the shower stall started backing up again with raw sewage every time water was used elsewhere in the house. Roto-Rooter could not return until three days later leaving us with no water usage. During that time, we noticed that the sewage water in the shower was slowly draining and we realized that the water was seeping through improperly-sealed drainage on the shower floor and dripping into the unfinished basement below.
The septic service arrived a few days later and concluded that the septic tank was nearly empty and therefore was unlikely to be the cause of the problem. We had it pumped anyway so as to completely rule it out as a possibility.
Even after the water drained from the shower floor, we could not clean off the fecal solids and residue because we couldn’t use the water in the house and risk it seeping through the floor or backing up the drain itself again. The resultant smell in the master bath was just lovely.
Senior plumber experts were called in by Roto-Rooter. After inspecting the fully visible and exposed sewer lines from the unfinished basement, they discovered that most of the sewer lines were completely level, and many even had a reverse-grade sloping away from the septic tank. In addition, the distance from the master toilet and from the shower to the septic tank were a much longer than recommended. Moreover, it was revealed that pipes had improper, insufficient, or even non-existent venting for most of the water fixtures, creating airlocks and further magnifying the slope problems. No amount of cabling was able to clear away the calcified and hardened fecal buildup in the pipes. The plumbing experts prescribed a re-sloping to correct the slope on all the pipe lines in the house toward the tank, combined with a high-power hydro “jetting” to blast away the buildup. They further recommended that due to the distance of the master toilet to the septic tank, we should replace the toilet with a higher power model. These services were performed a week later, leaving us once again without water for another seven days.
After the slope adjustments had been completed, the jetting was performed. Once again, even the high-power jetting was not enough to blast away the encrusted poop, indicating to the plumbers that this problem had been existing within the pipes for “a very long time” and that it takes years for hardening like this to take place.
And it keeps getting worse: the plumbers noticed that the water pressure wasn’t able to keep up with their jetting equipment’s demand for high pressure, so we investigated the well house and found that both of the pressure regulating tanks were broken, and requiring replacement. And by the way, somewhere in there my and Winston's air mattress got deflated by a goat head...
The only recourse at that point was to completely replace the encrusted pipes where the jetting didn’t work, leaving us once again without a fully functioning water/sewer system for another six days. We could only afford to begin with the pipes in the worst condition and replace 40 feet of PVC pipe to merely have a functioning sewer system in the house. It remains to be seen whether these repairs will be sufficient in creating a reliable sewer system. The plumbers already warned us that the remaining pipes that were not replaced will need replacement in the future if the buildup proves too great for the additional sloping to overcome, which they estimate will cost an additional $13,000.
We started to wonder if these issues were mentioned in the home inspection or in the sellers’ disclosure which we might have missed or overlooked and maybe could be offered some compensation. But upon review of the contract and the home inspection report, there was no mention of anything indicating these problems.
I suspect that the previous owners knew or should have known about the dysfunctional and inoperable sewer system and failed to disclose it to us. The home inspection noted the missing drain stops/plugs in the master sinks, which seems indicative that cabling had been performed on those lines. This is also corroborated by cameras inserted into the pipes that revealed scratches and marks from cabling performed previously. The inspection also noted minor water stains along the floor below the water heater upon the wooden base on which it is installed. When the garage condensation lines back-flowed with sewage, it was coming from the same areas that had the water stains, which seems to indicate that this back-flowing has also happened before. I find it incredibly unlikely that the very first signs of a problem was the complete failure of the system just nine days following our arrival. These details and observations adduce that it is highly unlikely and an unreasonable assumption that the previous owners were completely unaware of the problems.
Since we have spent all our reserve cash on this unexpected expense, we tried to pursue all our options for compensation. The home warranty responded that since it was not “normal wear and tear” they would not cover the costs. Home insurance responded that since it didn’t cause any “damage” to the house that the expenses were not eligible. None of these issues were mentioned in the home inspection report even though the improper sloping should have been easily visible to a home inspector, but, of course, the inspector doesn’t have inspector’s insurance. We even contacted the previous owners but they basically stuck to their guns that they didn't know anything about it and weren't responsible. What else could we do?
In addition to the enormous monetary expense, these issues caused us much emotional distress: the fear of the unknown while we were troubleshooting the problem, the detriment to our savings, and the stress of living without water for nearly a month, using no faucets or showers, being unable to bathe or wash dishes indoors. Think about that...you can't even pour left over coffee down the sink. Nothing. We had to wash our laundry by hand outside in the below freezing winter temperatures, we had to use the noodle buckets and carry our poop outside at all hours in below freezing weather. Taking the garbage can down our long driveway to the street was really difficult with all the excrement that had frozen inside. We couldn't bathe all that time. I hadn't been that disgusting feeling since I was in Nepal. All of these were almost insurmountable stressors while managing our full-time, at-home jobs, four-year-old son, having no furniture from the shyster movers, and being nine months pregnant. No big deal.
We had to manage a constant revolving door of contractors who were redoing the flooring, carpet, and painting. Nine days later after arriving, we were confronted with a major systemic backup of the sewer system. The toilets and master shower were backing up with sewage that was at least three inches deep on the entire shower floor. We noticed that every time we used a faucet in any area of the house, the shower would continue to back up with more and more raw sewage. What's up with that?! Since the sinks were draining slowly and causing more backups, we immediately discontinued use of all water and drains in the entire house, for fear that the sewage in the shower would overflow onto the rest of the bathroom flooring.
Shortly thereafter, as if it wasn't already confusing enough, we started to notice water pooling up on the garage floor coming from the condensation lines of the water heater. We had just replaced the water heater with a new one since the old one was found to be at life-expectancy by the home inspection. Soon we realized that the garage water was raw sewage as well. Since we had no idea what the cause of the problem could be, we scheduled appointments with Roto-Rooter Plumbing to cable the lines of the system and with a septic service to assess the septic tank.
Roto-Rooter plumbers arrived later the same day and cabled all the lines of the house. The problem seemed to be resolved, but just three hours later the shower stall started backing up again with raw sewage every time water was used elsewhere in the house. Roto-Rooter could not return until three days later leaving us with no water usage. During that time, we noticed that the sewage water in the shower was slowly draining and we realized that the water was seeping through improperly-sealed drainage on the shower floor and dripping into the unfinished basement below.
The septic service arrived a few days later and concluded that the septic tank was nearly empty and therefore was unlikely to be the cause of the problem. We had it pumped anyway so as to completely rule it out as a possibility.
Even after the water drained from the shower floor, we could not clean off the fecal solids and residue because we couldn’t use the water in the house and risk it seeping through the floor or backing up the drain itself again. The resultant smell in the master bath was just lovely.
Senior plumber experts were called in by Roto-Rooter. After inspecting the fully visible and exposed sewer lines from the unfinished basement, they discovered that most of the sewer lines were completely level, and many even had a reverse-grade sloping away from the septic tank. In addition, the distance from the master toilet and from the shower to the septic tank were a much longer than recommended. Moreover, it was revealed that pipes had improper, insufficient, or even non-existent venting for most of the water fixtures, creating airlocks and further magnifying the slope problems. No amount of cabling was able to clear away the calcified and hardened fecal buildup in the pipes. The plumbing experts prescribed a re-sloping to correct the slope on all the pipe lines in the house toward the tank, combined with a high-power hydro “jetting” to blast away the buildup. They further recommended that due to the distance of the master toilet to the septic tank, we should replace the toilet with a higher power model. These services were performed a week later, leaving us once again without water for another seven days.
Now you might be wondering but are afraid to ask, how did these people go to the bathroom for so long without water? And yes, you should be afraid to ask that. My dad had been watching disaster-preparedness youtube videos for quite some time, and he had already prepared some years earlier emergency toilets that are really quite amazing...given the situation. You take a foam pool noodle and slice it down the long way into the middle, not all the way through, and then place the slit around the top of a five gallon bucket. Then, you can use 5 gallon garbage bags to place over the top, sit on the top of the noodle-bucket, and do you business. Then you just have to take the bag out and tie it and throw it away—no water required, no contact with anything—it was a real life saver. Moving on...
After the slope adjustments had been completed, the jetting was performed. Once again, even the high-power jetting was not enough to blast away the encrusted poop, indicating to the plumbers that this problem had been existing within the pipes for “a very long time” and that it takes years for hardening like this to take place.
And it keeps getting worse: the plumbers noticed that the water pressure wasn’t able to keep up with their jetting equipment’s demand for high pressure, so we investigated the well house and found that both of the pressure regulating tanks were broken, and requiring replacement. And by the way, somewhere in there my and Winston's air mattress got deflated by a goat head...
The only recourse at that point was to completely replace the encrusted pipes where the jetting didn’t work, leaving us once again without a fully functioning water/sewer system for another six days. We could only afford to begin with the pipes in the worst condition and replace 40 feet of PVC pipe to merely have a functioning sewer system in the house. It remains to be seen whether these repairs will be sufficient in creating a reliable sewer system. The plumbers already warned us that the remaining pipes that were not replaced will need replacement in the future if the buildup proves too great for the additional sloping to overcome, which they estimate will cost an additional $13,000.
We started to wonder if these issues were mentioned in the home inspection or in the sellers’ disclosure which we might have missed or overlooked and maybe could be offered some compensation. But upon review of the contract and the home inspection report, there was no mention of anything indicating these problems.
I suspect that the previous owners knew or should have known about the dysfunctional and inoperable sewer system and failed to disclose it to us. The home inspection noted the missing drain stops/plugs in the master sinks, which seems indicative that cabling had been performed on those lines. This is also corroborated by cameras inserted into the pipes that revealed scratches and marks from cabling performed previously. The inspection also noted minor water stains along the floor below the water heater upon the wooden base on which it is installed. When the garage condensation lines back-flowed with sewage, it was coming from the same areas that had the water stains, which seems to indicate that this back-flowing has also happened before. I find it incredibly unlikely that the very first signs of a problem was the complete failure of the system just nine days following our arrival. These details and observations adduce that it is highly unlikely and an unreasonable assumption that the previous owners were completely unaware of the problems.
Since we have spent all our reserve cash on this unexpected expense, we tried to pursue all our options for compensation. The home warranty responded that since it was not “normal wear and tear” they would not cover the costs. Home insurance responded that since it didn’t cause any “damage” to the house that the expenses were not eligible. None of these issues were mentioned in the home inspection report even though the improper sloping should have been easily visible to a home inspector, but, of course, the inspector doesn’t have inspector’s insurance. We even contacted the previous owners but they basically stuck to their guns that they didn't know anything about it and weren't responsible. What else could we do?
In addition to the enormous monetary expense, these issues caused us much emotional distress: the fear of the unknown while we were troubleshooting the problem, the detriment to our savings, and the stress of living without water for nearly a month, using no faucets or showers, being unable to bathe or wash dishes indoors. Think about that...you can't even pour left over coffee down the sink. Nothing. We had to wash our laundry by hand outside in the below freezing winter temperatures, we had to use the noodle buckets and carry our poop outside at all hours in below freezing weather. Taking the garbage can down our long driveway to the street was really difficult with all the excrement that had frozen inside. We couldn't bathe all that time. I hadn't been that disgusting feeling since I was in Nepal. All of these were almost insurmountable stressors while managing our full-time, at-home jobs, four-year-old son, having no furniture from the shyster movers, and being nine months pregnant. No big deal.
But this experience has underscored how amazing Ganesh and I are—even during that extreme stress, we never argued or got angry at each other, we both remained really pleasant to one another through all of it, and made me realize that probably no other couple on earth could pull that off. We are like two exceptionally well-matched draft-horses harnessed to the same giant nearly insurmountable cart full of crap. The match-making buddhist monk said we were "one in millions." We are awesome...and we're humble too.
I still wish some miracle would happen and we get a check for $28,316.18 show up in the mail unexpectedly to pay us back for our expenses.
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