Being Persistent

I know you are wondering if I have managed to resolve my laundry situation, so here is an update for you.

I noticed today that my utility sink was empty (the water had all drained) so I decided to try to figure out what its problem is. I disassembled a coat hanger and manuvered it down the drain hoping to snag some nasty hair ball to no avail. I have noticed that everytime the water drains, the sink is left with a gritty, dirty, gross coating all over it which leads me to believe that the drain pipe is just plain yucky and that is the root of the problem. However, I can't take the drain apart because the strainer thing is cemented into the cement sink and the drain line out is also cemented... The design of this OLD sink also leads me to believe that snaking would be tricky.

I hadn't done any laundry since my trip to the laundry mat and we are getting ready to go camping for the weekend. Imagining what the Mount Dirty Clothes will look like by Monday morning sparked a new determination in me.

I grabbed a pair of (Todd's) grandma's old pants (may she rest in peace, although I'm sure she would be rolling in her grave if she knew that her pants were being used to clean out my sink) I scooped out all the nasty sludgy stuff. I then scrapped the sink (with the coat hanger) and put the whole filthy mess in the garbage.

I put a load of laundry in the washing machine. Then I stood there and watched the sink fill. Todd had tried plunging to no avail, but I thought if I plunge while it is filling maybe it will help it go down a little quicker so I can get more than one load done today. For almost the entire wash cycle I plunged. And still, the sink filled with water - first one side then the other.

It then occurred to me - this drain has two holes. The plunger won't form a seal unless I can close the other hole! But I was unable to figure out a way to close up the hole. I gave up for a while and went to work on packing for our trip. But I hate to loose and the stupid drain was beating me! I went back down with one of Cadence's socks and stuffed it into the other drain, grabbed my plunger and went to work. All of the sudden I could hear gurgle noises in the main drain line behind me - this was exciting, so plunged a little harder and a little faster. I pulled up the plunger and viola! I have never seen that sink drain so fast.

I was so excited I wanted shout, "I did it" (I did it, I did it, yeah! - think Dora) But my kids already think I'm weird so I decided I would quietly come upstairs and write about my victory.