Clog

So after the Baby Alive poopfest (see previous post), I made the mistake of leaving a package of baby wipes in the bathroom. I'm constantly bitching at my daughter for using too much toilet paper. Can you guess where this is going?

Dingdingding, we have a winner! She decided to use wipes instead of tp and, of course, used too many. I've been able to get away with flushing one or two wipes in the past, but when a good quarter of the package goes into the S-bend, it can create some drainage problems.

It backed up Tuesday night, and I (not realizing what was causing the clog) tried plunging it. That seemed to work, so I went to bed without giving it another thought. When I flushed it Wednesday morning, it almost overflowed. Again with the not-what-I-wanted-to-deal-with-first-thing-in-the-morning. Of course, with her potty chair gone and the toilet filled to the brim with raw sewage, the girl had to hold her morning pee until she got to school. She actually made it without having an accident. Yay for small victories.

Meanwhile, back in the toilet bowl, things were draining slowly and finally reached a point that made plunging possible. Unfortunately, my toilet and my plunger don't get along very well. They just don't fit together, and the lack of a firm seal means things can get messy. I'll leave it at that.

I still tried (very carefully) to plunge it for about an hour before admitting defeat. Since it says in my lease that my landlord is not responsible for damage/maintenance emergencies caused by tenants, I started searching plumbers online, hoping to find a bargain price and wondering how the hell I was going to pay for even a bargain price (because, you know, welfare). My friend The Physicist had sent me a facebook message asking how my morning was going, and I shared all the shitty details of my situation with him (ha, see what I did there? Hardy har har.) He offered to come over after work (doing physics stuff, of course) and snake my toilet. I graciously accepted his offer.

When he got there, he tried plunging it himself, because with me not being a physicist or an engineer (did I mention he's technically a mechanical engineer? He just works in the physics department at the university), I was probably doing it wrong. When that didn't work, he tried the snake. When that didn't work, we made a run to Home Depot and he bought a toilet auger. Within a minute or so of working with the auger, he pulled up a clump of wipes that was about as big as my fist, successfully unclogging my toilet. For now.