Why I Love Professionals

For those of you who haven't had me calling for advice as to what to do about it I'll start out by mentioning that I've had some issues with my kitchen sink lately. Frankly I'm beginning to believe it's a rite of passage for every place I live - I can't fully consider myself a resident of a dwelling until issues with the kitchen sink arise and are, to some degree, taken care of. Over the last couple of weeks it became apparent that there was something wrong with the sink and that it wouldn't go away with a little use. (It hadn't been used regularly for a few months prior to our moving in.) So I started with the basics - Drano or some other liquid plumber equivalent. After having no success I went to the best resource for anything do it yourself - my mother-in-law SuZan. Not only has she done just about everything she is an internet search engine genius and can usually turn up a few more pearls only available on the world wide web. This solution alas did not alleviate the problem either. Still endeavoring to be self-sufficient and economical I decided to tackle the s bend myself. I figured I would try taking it out to see if there was a clog in there I could clear. After maybe an hour of battling the under-the-sink fixtures I managed to get the thing out only to discover that in my oh so humble opinion this wasn't were the problem was. 'Oh well' I thought 'I'll take it into the hardware store anyway and see if they have a better solution.' Only I wasn't able to actually follow through on this plan as trip to town was quickly consumed with other necessary tasks and the thought of facing Lowe's with two tired children seemed too daunting for serious contemplation. I figured we'd just do something basic for dinner to help keep dishes minimal and take care of it the next day. Thankfully Mycal (who had been out in the field all week with the final training of the cycle) was able to get off a little early on Thursday (the day after my tearing everything out) and spent three of the twelve waking hours he spent at home this week working on the problem. Still no luck. While at Lowe's Mycal had had the foresight to purchase an auger (plumbing snake) just in case we needed to clear the lines beyond the plumbing we were replacing. So after hitting a few dead ends last night I woke up this morning ready to tackle the thing with the snake. An hour later I wasn't getting it anywhere, though had been able to pull up a really nasty spoon and another bunch of grimy nastiness. All of this brought to mind a conversation I had had with SuZan a few months back where somehow we were talking about the various home improvement things we were capable of. I readily admitted that I'm very proficient at using the phone book and calling professionals. I took this moment to exercise that ever so important ability. Within two hours there was a very polite gentleman under my sink running a snake for the third time. The first had hit the ninety degree angle our pipe apparently makes and wouldn't go back (the same problem I'd run into...) the second had gone through and broken up a lot of stuff but it still wasn't draining fast enough for the plumber. After doing that he replaced all the pieces I'd taken out, (in the process fixing something that was a little off with the new set we had purchased...) plunged both sinks quite vigorously for ten or so minutes until finally the water was draining beautifully, put sealant around the necessary pipes to avoid possible seeping all the time answering all my sink/plumbing/what-should-I-do-in-this-situation questions. As he was leaving I was pondering the course of events. I now had a sink in good working order and a whole lot of useful information. I wasn't upset with myself for a) not being able to do it myself or b) not having called him sooner. I had given it my best effort and discovered I wouldn't have been able to really do much more on my own. It was one of those rare moments where I actually timed things well and I gotta tell you - it felt great knowing when to call in a professional.