Indoor Plumbing... It's Gonna Be Big

I have a bit of a win to share tonight. We just remodeled my only bathroom and we had been having issues with the sink draining. I figured it was the p trap and it would be solved with the install of a new vanity and p-trap anyways.

Strike 1: Well, after installing all new stuff it barely drained. I am talking it took a half hour to drain 4 inches of water out of the sink. So I started the troubleshooting. It was a bit awkward because the new vanity didn't line up directly with the wall arm. So there were some weird things happening, I figured this discrepancy was the problem. Maybe it was just my combination that was off so I went and bought some corrugated plastic in order to get the perfect angle from the p trap to the wall. No success.

Strike 2: Okay, so the problem had to be in the wall right? I figured it had to do with air not getting vented back out, so there must be a problem with the vent on the roof. I got my ladder out and crawled on the roof and used a water-hose to flush it out. Didn't work.

Strike 3: Crap, well, I also installed a new toilet in the same bathroom that had a much better seal than the last one. I figured that there was no air getting out of the line to be replaced by water and this HAD to be because now the line couldn't get air from the leaky toilet fitting-(is that even a thing, I have no idea, I was just running out of options). No dice. So I called in reinforcements in the form of a local plumbing company. I was so dooooone. Well, the guy comes in and just says oh yeah I see what the problem is, it's the corrugated p-trap. He didn't understand that I had tried every combination of p-trap known to man under that sink and it didn't work. So he went to the van to get his iPad to give me a quote. $550. Welllllll Sh*&*t... (that was his "economy price") the quote actually went all the way up to $1200. He explained that the pipes were probably old and needed to be cleaned out and I get it, but I would rather go by my own pipe cleaner and do it myself for that price.

One last ditch effort, my Hail Mary, I go to the hardware store and run through the scenario in my head. He said it was the p-trap. I am going to build the nicest p-trap the world has ever seen. Also, I might as well get one of these air admittance valves while I am at it in case the problem is just searching for air. $40.

I get home and install it. It is beautiful. Didn't work. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Okay, now let's try it with the AAV while I am down here just to test. Nope.

Licking my wounds on the couch, I am coming to the realization that I am going to have to call this dude and tell him to come and fix it. I am thinking man, something must really be wrong under the house (we have pier and beam). Then I thought to myself, oh wait, I was just under there a couple of weeks ago, let me take a look at the video I took while I was under there. (Helpful diy/fix-it-yourself-trick, ALWAYS take a video when you’re in a tight space). As I was watching the video, I see off in the darkness the waterline coming out from under the vanity. TELL ME YOUR SECRETS!!! And it did.

I noticed in the 2 seconds of footage that the line was actually lower where it came out of the wall than where it connected with the toilet. YAHTZEE! There it was, the slope of the drain pipe under the house was negative and it wouldn't let anything through. I run and get my drill and a forstner bit and drill out above where the drain arm comes through the wall and I lifted the pipe up and there it was, I could hear it all drain out.

I ended up raising that pipe about 4 inches and it works like a dream. Three to five full days of pacing the floor and racking my brain, but I came out the other side a winner. So, now I get to spend $510 on some new tools because what else should you do with all the money that you just saved?