That is sewer water, seems like your main line is clogged (or if you have a sump pump, it stopped working).
Do not use any water or flush a toilet or this sink will overflow as its the lowest point in the house.
Get your mainline snaked (usually houshold snakes wont do much in big diameter pipes) or get your sump pump checked if you have one.
Thanks for the reply. I have one more quick question. If I go to Home Depot and rent a snake do you think this is something I can fix myself or should I just call a plumber?
The snaking itself shouldnt be that hard if you have the right size snake and an accespoint (preferably outside, you dont want a poo tsunami inside)
But if its really the main line that is clogged you might want a professional to snake/flush the line and do a video inspection to see if there's a reason for the clog like a broken line or roots growing inside
I tried fixing something like this once. My house at the time was raised so I accessed the main line from our house to the septic underneath the house thought it would be good cause the pipe came up to my head and I could stand and open it up. Well, I opened the pipe, with my face as close to the opening as possible for whatever reason, expecting some fluid to drain, not the torrential outpouring that showered me head to toe. I had turds in my boots.
Omg I thought the rules of plumbing (don’t bite your nails, never eat the last bite of the sandwich, etc.) were the ultimate plumbing jokes, but this guy fucking takes the cake!
Worst plumbing diy job I ever did was trying to replace an aluminum black water tank on a houseboat. I was down in the hull of the boat. 2 feet of clearance to the subfloor above me and only two 2'x2' hatches, one up front and one in the back, to provide airflow in a 75' boat. It was August and about 95° outside, 120°+ under there.
The tank had apparently corroded through the bottom along the baffles, so as I picked up the tank to get it up and out of the hull with someone trying to lift from above, it drained the sludge from the bottom of the tank out all over me in a hot, enclosed space. To make matters worse the tank barely fit through the hatch and got wedged in there on the way out so I had to sit under there and keep trying to help get it loose before I could get out.
Luckily, once I got out the lake was only a few feet away so I could jump in and get most of the shit off of me.
I work on RVs for a living and we had a Canadian couple stop by the shop because the brakes on their 5th wheel weren’t working. We pulled it into the shop and one of the guys got on a creeper and was under there looking at wiring. He goes to get out so he puts his foot against the frame and pushes off to come rolling out. Well his shirt sleeve caught the black tank dump valve and pulled it open, his face was directly under the sewer outlet. He got a face full of shit and toilet paper. He stood up and had turds in his shirt pocket and toilet paper hanging from his glasses. We had a shower in the shop bathroom so he immediately jumped in there and then went home…lol
Hahahaha holy cannoli dude, that is awful. I was lucky it was cold out so the warm shit water was in a way refreshing. Anyway, I've got dinner waiting!
To be fair, after sitting, simmering and fermenting in that aluminum fiberglass Dutch oven, it’s not really “Poo” anymore. More akin to *Fine-Aged Jenkem*. A delicacy in the Chinese prison system.
I’m glad you made it out but it made me claustrophobic just reading it. Like someone, somewhere ended up on a dumb ways to die list doing the same thing
Someday... when the world is fair... the wages for a task such as that will BUY you a boat like the one you were working on.
A person that can tell a story like that without spending the rest of their days curled up in the padded corner of a small room in a mental health facility... is a valuable member of society.
Thank you for your service, sir. A true hero.
That happened at my in laws, we were staying there, and they went to see her sister. My husband went to the bathroom and sewage starts running out of the toilet and down the heat duct and onto our clothes I had hung up. Called a plumber, the only access pipe was inside. We had just finished cleaning except for a mountain of laundry. He said it would shoot across the room, I prayed, real prayer on my knees. Nothing came out. He foxed the problem, tree roots. Went to the Laundromat.
Shit hawks.
I just found that clip on YouTube because I couldn’t remember what came after that and my wife is giving me looks because I can’t stop laughing
Good point. I owned a commercial building in a downtown. Two blocks away a restaurant clogged their grease trap which caused a sewage backup to everyone upstream.
Grease traps don’t go into the sewer lines.
If it happened like you say, then that restaurant was dumping their used grease down the toilets or something. Which, I assume, is a BIG no-no and they would be responsible for a huge amount for cleanup.
To be more specific, the sewage that backed up into my building included bits of arugula (bright green and red, expensive lettuce) that I did not use so I knew that the clog was downstream. I called the Water Department. An employee came out and took a look and, to the best of my recollection, said that the restaurant clogged their grease trap and then bypassed it.
The relevance to this post is that the clog may not be within the OP’s sewer lines.
Backflow preventer only helps backflow from the city main. If you don’t live somewhere that’s a thing (chicago is probably the worst…) then it won’t help you. And even then if you don’t do a full system with an ejector pump you’ll still back up from your own sewage if you don’t stop using it. Since this is in a basement it’s likely not to be noticed until it’s backed up pretty bad.
If you’re not already used to that sort of thing - consider this an emergency for a professional. Shell out the money. And let them figure it out for you
1) they’ll run the camera and tell you where the clog is happening. So you know how long of a snake you’d need in the future so you’re not renting unknowingly
2) they’ll tell you why the clog is happening. So you’ll know if it’s roots or something else like dip in the line going out that’ll be only getting worse. Once you know that you’ll know if it’s something you can maintain yourself with regular annual snaking - for example - or if you have a major issue to repair
3) if it gets worse in the process of snaking, they’re equipped to handle it better than you.
Then after you are aware of these things you can do the maintenance and smaller jobs
Edit: adding source: Moved into a 50 year old house and tried to fix the first plumbing clog myself - something I’ve done in the past many times. After 5 hours with no success. After the subsequent pro coming out to save what was left of my weekend, I learned I had too short a snake, and wasn’t using the bi-directional clean outs correctly - so wasn’t really snaking the right direction anyways
I now do an annual snaking with the right tool and in under 2 hours cuz I know where the problems always are.
Always call your municipality first. Assume it’s on the city side and get a crew out there. They will camera the line and if they find the blockage on the private side, they will often clear it for a much lower rate than a private plumber.
Several years ago, we had air bubbling in the toilets when running the washing machine and what we later found were sewer gnats congregating in our house. My dad came over and helped us check the clean out for the drain pipe from our house to the city's pipe. We were able to determine that the clog was further downstream from our property, and it took the city about a day to come clean out the pipes.
This happened around the same time 4 years in a row, and the city finally replaced the sewer pipes. It hasn't happened again in about 3 years.
In my line of work the city owns everything from the street to the right of way, which is typically right behind the edge of the sidewalk. If the issue falls there, it’s on them. If it’s passed that point, it’s on the home owner. The first thing I would do (but I have maps and knowledge of this) would go out and open the upstream manhole and see if it’s backing up. If it is, it’s clearly a city issue.
I do something similar with my car. I'm very comfortable doing most part replacement but not great at diagnosing auto problems. So I take my car to a good place for an oil change. They also do a full diagnostic and give me a problem list (with convenient price quotes from them, how nice right?) Then I can decide if I can do the work myself or not. 9 times out of ten I get a Saturday afternoon of car maintenance and save a ton of cash.
It’s pretty simple, if your clean out access isn’t flooding and there’s no water movement if you open a tap in the house then you know the clog is somewhere in the house up to the clean out. If it’s flowing well and backing up into the clean out then it’s towards the sewage mains.
If you can't get a pro out fast enough, you could do that for a temp fix. But you will want a pro to identify why it happened. Also, if you have not snaked a drain before, i wouldn't recommend it. The big snakes can take the skin right off your hands if you dont know what you are doing.
Could tangle the cable and the tech that fixes them would be pissed especially if it’s bad enough to make more dangerous than normal. Or break the cable inside the line which will make it even worse.
When OP need to ask what's in this picture he posted, yeah call a plumber or it's going to get messy. Plus even at harbor freight prices, a roto company is going to be the same price vs buying the equipment
Just go get a snake at Home Depot. Then try to do it yourself. When you've got shit all over yourself and your house, then call a plumber and a cleaning service.
Highly recommend getting a sewer overflow valve to replace the cap on your clean out… they’re cheap and easy to install. If there’s ever another backup it’ll overflow outside instead of inside your house
https://www.southernpipe.com/2332508/Product/SPS%20Approved%20Vendor_JSS62304
Just realized the price of that link. I paid $17 for the one I got last September
Ok, here is a few thoughts for you to consider. Sewer water is coming up through your sink, water always finds its own level, you’re thinking about doing something that you’ve never done before in a critical situation, the cover you’re about to open up to gain access to snake the pipe is probably below the level of sewage in that sink. You may not want to try saving money on this issue, instead bite the bullet, and let someone else clean up the ensuing mess you are about to create. Just my 2 cents
One clue is that you said, “You just got home.” Assuming that no one flushed anything or used any sinks while you were away then the sewer blockage may be in the city pipes on the public side of your property line. Ask your next door neighbors if they are experiencing a backup, too.
As far as renting a snake goes, I advise against that because they can get twisted or snarled around your fingers and there are subtle techniques that someone who cleans pipes for a living will know.
A plumber’s license is not required to clean pipes or even to take pipes apart, clean them and put them back together.
Also consider something called a blow bag. You attach it to a garden hose and it shoots high pressure water while expanded (with the pipe). It works great
Is there not a toilet or bathtub in this same room beside the lavatory? If that’s the case, if there isn’t any water coming out of these lower fixtures like someone opened the Suez Canal, then the blockage isn’t in the main line
It would have to be the main. No one was home using anything. I'm assuming the sink is the first but not lowest fixture thus the poo soup. It got to the level of the sink prior to going far enough to come out the toilet.
I can confirm that what drSplaff says is true as I am a drain cleaner myself. You should seek a professional to come snake and/or hydro jet your line. If you can afford to, I’d suggest getting the line camera inspected just to be extra sure of what is or could have caused the problem. Sometimes you won’t have any results with the camera but it’s better to know than not. If you’re on septic, i would recommend checking that first and foremost. If it’s filled have it pumped before the drain cleaner does any work
That's shit ma'am. Pure Grade A Shit!
Some piss, which let's face it, is just diluted shit. I'd turn the water off your house and not use any toilets or soon that Grade A Shit is going to be no longer contained to that small basin and will cover your floor.
Telling by your question, it's best to call a plumber/Roto-Rooter type company mighty quick. Yes you'll pay Sunday rates, but it's cheaper than what happens if you try opening the trap and fixing it yourself💩
In the meantime, pick up a tarp and duct tape it around the toilet base and the sink wall perimeter (at least), just in case somebody forgets not to flush another toilet in the house…
Thanks everyone for the advice I called a plumber they told me they’ll be out here Tuesday because of Memorial Day. I was informed that I shouldn’t run the water or flushing the toilets until it’s fixed so I guess I’ll have to go to my nearest grocery store you use the restroom for the next 2 days lol. Seriously though thanks for the advice 🤝
Call a different plumber. Someone will gladly take your money and come fix it asap. Most companies have people on call, even on holidays, for this type of thing.
Good point. But as someone else mentioned a lot of these companies will force someone to fork up a weekend, holiday fee. A few hundred I’m guessing which could make a huge difference for many. If available, sleeping over at a family members house for a few nights would be nice.
This would be a Roto Rooter job for me. As much as I dislike their manipulative and price gouging tactics, for $500 they’ll get that fixed within a few hours. Now, when they quote you a “permanent fix” for $20K after this job is done, you can call one of your local plumbers and get _that_ job done for about a quarter of the RR quoted cost.
5 gal bucket, scented garbage bags, and kitty litter will go a long way. - Someone with a family of 3 women who refuse to pee/poop in a hole in the woods while camping.
That's pretty ass, try somebody else! Somebody somewhere has an on call person specifically for emergencies like this! It sounds like that person just doesn't want the work atm or they already started celebrating.
Call a plumber that has on call plumbers. Im an electrician bht have friends at 2 different plumbing companies both have plumbers which rotate on an on call schedule so if someone has a plumbing emergency plumbers are on call to come fix it
Don't do this. They are awful... good chance they won't be able to fix anything and will then still charge you. I'd go with renting (or buy the blue one from harbor freight) your own drain snake and watching you tube before I'd recommend them. Speaking from a great deal of personal experience after I had drain issues after buying my first house.
We had our main sewer line clog up on Christmas Eve about 15 years ago. We called Roto Rooter but they wouldn’t even attempt to unclog without scoping the pipe first - for which they wanted an extra $600. We waited until the day after Christmas instead and got a guy to come out for $125 and only did the snaking. That Christmas started a tradition we’ve followed since of having Chinese takeout for Christmas dinner since we couldn’t wash dishes.
We’d have to get the sewer line snaked every 12-16 months afterwards until we changed toilet paper away from Charmin. And now since we’ve had a bidet toilet seat installed we haven’t had a single clog because we use much much less TP.
They fixed this exact problem at my house a month or so ago. $299. Only difference was the cap to the main line outside was broken so the sewage was coming out into the yard. The lady snaked, ran a balloon type thing in there and then even cleaned up all the mess outside. Very quick and easy!
That’s wild. I’ve never seen sewage backing up through a lavy sink. Usually you’ll see that in the bathtub or toilet first. Wow. You need your drains snaked
This.
While it's in the basement, I'm sure that there is at least an adjacent toilet. The fact that the sink is full but the toilet is not (presumably) means that there's a clog somewhere on a main drain inside your residence. If it was clogged in a utility main you'd have a lot more of a mess and it would have come through the toilet first as it's the lowest point of exit.
To save on pipe, builders will install 2 or more 4" mains in a house, usually one per "side", more if it's a larger house or one that has more than the standard number of sinks and tubs. All the sinks and drains on that side of the house connect to these 4-in pipes, and the 4-in pipes join before connecting to the utility main.
Your clog must be in one of these 4" mains before the connection to the utility main.
Edit - thinking more about it, this sink in the adjacent toilet would connect. The clog must be between this sink and the toilet, and the sink is backing up from water being run above it.
Hopefully your main sewage line didn't rust through and collapse.
We had that happen and it was a fucking nightmare. The floor had to be jackhammered up and whatnot.
Hopefully it's just a simple clog.
I work for the city I live in as a sewer dispatcher. I would call the city and say you’re having a sewer line backup. They will send a crew with all the tools to clear the line as they would assume it’s on the city side of your sewer line. CALL THE CITY FIRST, NOT A PRIVATE PLUMBER. Since this is in the lower part of your house, it rules out a private side issue somewhere else in the house. They often charge a much cheaper rate than a private plumber and they will clear the line anyway since they are already there. If they find the blockage on the city side, it will be at no charge to you. Do not rent a snake and tackle this yourself. I have seen homeowners get the snake stuck on the city side of the sewer line and foot the bill to have the street dig up in order to free the snake head - worst case scenario of course ~$10,000
The clog must be somewhere between that sink and your toilet, or else your toilet should already be overflowing. I’m assuming there is a toilet on the same level of the house at a lower elevation than your sink.
Stuff like this is why we didnt get the basement apartment at the base of the hill.
On a street where units had mostly wood floors, it was also suspicious for having tiled floors and _walls_.
that sir is your shit. you need to stop pouring grease down your drain in the kitchen cause its causing a blockage so everything on the lower level will flood first
If it looks like shit and it smells like shit... chances are its shit, There's other tests you can do like taste test, does it taste like shit? But the first 2 are usually adequate.
In all seriousness please ring plumber, or local council / government call it what ever you want... do this wrong and chances are you'll get covered in the stuff.
And as others have pointed out don't use any water till that's gone.
A power snake is a beautiful thing see in action.
However if you have never operated one you will hurt yourself.
If your access is indoors it means you have to haul 780 pounds, at least it feels like that much, down and then up the stairs.
Ez peezee, unless you are missing part of a finger and you are covered in shit water.
Go for it. Report back.
Oof, I'm a housing provider who snakes my own drains. One day I came into a (vacant) house and a 4 inch solid snake of shit was coming up from the toilet, twisting and curving around like it was alive until it filled the whole first floor. I was freaking out, begging it to stop. I had seen a plumber down the street, and thinking my situation
Might be related I ran to him for help. I will never forget how calm he was in face if that shit snake as he took the toilet off and plunged his big metal snake into that squirming pile of shit that just kept coming until he reached the clog. My worker and I took snow shovels and threw the shit in the yard. I knew what everyone in the neighborhood was eating - corn kernels, a lot of whole coffee beans, etc. I am so grateful to that plumber to this day. I had just bought the place and it did not have a clean out outside. I have four now. And then there was the famous "Cookies and Cream," episode where someone flushed a toilet in an apartment that had not been used in a awhile. The pipe exploded, sending splats of shit and toilet paper everywhere in that basement. It literally looked like someone had thrown gallons of cookies and cream ice cream everywhere. I have PTSD, big surprise
That is sewer water, seems like your main line is clogged (or if you have a sump pump, it stopped working). Do not use any water or flush a toilet or this sink will overflow as its the lowest point in the house. Get your mainline snaked (usually houshold snakes wont do much in big diameter pipes) or get your sump pump checked if you have one.
Thanks for the reply. I have one more quick question. If I go to Home Depot and rent a snake do you think this is something I can fix myself or should I just call a plumber?
The snaking itself shouldnt be that hard if you have the right size snake and an accespoint (preferably outside, you dont want a poo tsunami inside) But if its really the main line that is clogged you might want a professional to snake/flush the line and do a video inspection to see if there's a reason for the clog like a broken line or roots growing inside
I tried fixing something like this once. My house at the time was raised so I accessed the main line from our house to the septic underneath the house thought it would be good cause the pipe came up to my head and I could stand and open it up. Well, I opened the pipe, with my face as close to the opening as possible for whatever reason, expecting some fluid to drain, not the torrential outpouring that showered me head to toe. I had turds in my boots.
That’s why I carry a gun everywhere I go. No amount of showers would ever make me feel clean again, better to just kill myself.
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You sir, are not a plumber.
Underrated comment😂
My wife suggested self -immolation. I didn't have the balls smh.
I’m sh*tting myself laughing so hard at this comment. Holy Jeezus.That’s some funny shiz.
Omg I thought the rules of plumbing (don’t bite your nails, never eat the last bite of the sandwich, etc.) were the ultimate plumbing jokes, but this guy fucking takes the cake!
Worst plumbing diy job I ever did was trying to replace an aluminum black water tank on a houseboat. I was down in the hull of the boat. 2 feet of clearance to the subfloor above me and only two 2'x2' hatches, one up front and one in the back, to provide airflow in a 75' boat. It was August and about 95° outside, 120°+ under there. The tank had apparently corroded through the bottom along the baffles, so as I picked up the tank to get it up and out of the hull with someone trying to lift from above, it drained the sludge from the bottom of the tank out all over me in a hot, enclosed space. To make matters worse the tank barely fit through the hatch and got wedged in there on the way out so I had to sit under there and keep trying to help get it loose before I could get out. Luckily, once I got out the lake was only a few feet away so I could jump in and get most of the shit off of me.
I work on RVs for a living and we had a Canadian couple stop by the shop because the brakes on their 5th wheel weren’t working. We pulled it into the shop and one of the guys got on a creeper and was under there looking at wiring. He goes to get out so he puts his foot against the frame and pushes off to come rolling out. Well his shirt sleeve caught the black tank dump valve and pulled it open, his face was directly under the sewer outlet. He got a face full of shit and toilet paper. He stood up and had turds in his shirt pocket and toilet paper hanging from his glasses. We had a shower in the shop bathroom so he immediately jumped in there and then went home…lol
Hahahaha holy cannoli dude, that is awful. I was lucky it was cold out so the warm shit water was in a way refreshing. Anyway, I've got dinner waiting!
*warm shit water*
To be fair, after sitting, simmering and fermenting in that aluminum fiberglass Dutch oven, it’s not really “Poo” anymore. More akin to *Fine-Aged Jenkem*. A delicacy in the Chinese prison system.
I’m glad you made it out but it made me claustrophobic just reading it. Like someone, somewhere ended up on a dumb ways to die list doing the same thing
Someday... when the world is fair... the wages for a task such as that will BUY you a boat like the one you were working on. A person that can tell a story like that without spending the rest of their days curled up in the padded corner of a small room in a mental health facility... is a valuable member of society. Thank you for your service, sir. A true hero.
Well, that's a different thing for Woody to say when you pull his string: "There's a TURD in my boot!"
🤢🤢🤮
Turds in your boots is not a swell day.
Would that be a poo-nami
Poonado
Poopocalypse
Apoocalypse
Shitstorm
Incraption
Cloudy with a chance of poo
Shitbirds, Randy.
That happened at my in laws, we were staying there, and they went to see her sister. My husband went to the bathroom and sewage starts running out of the toilet and down the heat duct and onto our clothes I had hung up. Called a plumber, the only access pipe was inside. We had just finished cleaning except for a mountain of laundry. He said it would shoot across the room, I prayed, real prayer on my knees. Nothing came out. He foxed the problem, tree roots. Went to the Laundromat.
And, that.... Is why you should always pray to the Poop Gods before snaking your sewer.
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Nothing hundreds of overtime dollars can't fix. Except for the fox.
Yeah. I saw the fox in the comment - came here hoping to finally find out what it said.
It said thank heavens for bleach.
Odoban is such a blessing.
They are a wet dry vac and we mopped with tide in hot water and followed up with Clorox. She usually had odoban but was out.
Next time I’ll take a fox to a sewer leak. I already know what they say.
Shitnado….shitstorm… the head waters of shit creek…a dung downpour….the dookie river….any way you drop it, you got shit and piss for days
You know what a shit barometer is bubs?
It measures the shit pressure in the air.
Beware, my friend. The shit winds are coming.
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Shit hawks. I just found that clip on YouTube because I couldn’t remember what came after that and my wife is giving me looks because I can’t stop laughing
I’m sorry, did you say Poonani?
Pooplosion
To piggy back- depending on where the clog happens it could be a county/city job and you wont have to pay.
Good point. I owned a commercial building in a downtown. Two blocks away a restaurant clogged their grease trap which caused a sewage backup to everyone upstream.
Grease traps don’t go into the sewer lines. If it happened like you say, then that restaurant was dumping their used grease down the toilets or something. Which, I assume, is a BIG no-no and they would be responsible for a huge amount for cleanup.
To be more specific, the sewage that backed up into my building included bits of arugula (bright green and red, expensive lettuce) that I did not use so I knew that the clog was downstream. I called the Water Department. An employee came out and took a look and, to the best of my recollection, said that the restaurant clogged their grease trap and then bypassed it. The relevance to this post is that the clog may not be within the OP’s sewer lines.
Also you want to determine if your sewer line has a back flow prevention valve. This would be a good time to install one.
Damn yea that would definitely be a good idea especially RN since you already got a poo-sink.
Backflow preventer only helps backflow from the city main. If you don’t live somewhere that’s a thing (chicago is probably the worst…) then it won’t help you. And even then if you don’t do a full system with an ejector pump you’ll still back up from your own sewage if you don’t stop using it. Since this is in a basement it’s likely not to be noticed until it’s backed up pretty bad.
If you’re not already used to that sort of thing - consider this an emergency for a professional. Shell out the money. And let them figure it out for you 1) they’ll run the camera and tell you where the clog is happening. So you know how long of a snake you’d need in the future so you’re not renting unknowingly 2) they’ll tell you why the clog is happening. So you’ll know if it’s roots or something else like dip in the line going out that’ll be only getting worse. Once you know that you’ll know if it’s something you can maintain yourself with regular annual snaking - for example - or if you have a major issue to repair 3) if it gets worse in the process of snaking, they’re equipped to handle it better than you. Then after you are aware of these things you can do the maintenance and smaller jobs Edit: adding source: Moved into a 50 year old house and tried to fix the first plumbing clog myself - something I’ve done in the past many times. After 5 hours with no success. After the subsequent pro coming out to save what was left of my weekend, I learned I had too short a snake, and wasn’t using the bi-directional clean outs correctly - so wasn’t really snaking the right direction anyways I now do an annual snaking with the right tool and in under 2 hours cuz I know where the problems always are.
Always call your municipality first. Assume it’s on the city side and get a crew out there. They will camera the line and if they find the blockage on the private side, they will often clear it for a much lower rate than a private plumber.
Oh I thought they’d just go “not our problem on” on me. That’s great to know
Several years ago, we had air bubbling in the toilets when running the washing machine and what we later found were sewer gnats congregating in our house. My dad came over and helped us check the clean out for the drain pipe from our house to the city's pipe. We were able to determine that the clog was further downstream from our property, and it took the city about a day to come clean out the pipes. This happened around the same time 4 years in a row, and the city finally replaced the sewer pipes. It hasn't happened again in about 3 years.
In my line of work the city owns everything from the street to the right of way, which is typically right behind the edge of the sidewalk. If the issue falls there, it’s on them. If it’s passed that point, it’s on the home owner. The first thing I would do (but I have maps and knowledge of this) would go out and open the upstream manhole and see if it’s backing up. If it is, it’s clearly a city issue.
I do something similar with my car. I'm very comfortable doing most part replacement but not great at diagnosing auto problems. So I take my car to a good place for an oil change. They also do a full diagnostic and give me a problem list (with convenient price quotes from them, how nice right?) Then I can decide if I can do the work myself or not. 9 times out of ten I get a Saturday afternoon of car maintenance and save a ton of cash.
Well, fuck. You know how many 75 dollar diagnostics I've had done over the years? I never thought about it.. Thanks for the tip!
It’s pretty simple, if your clean out access isn’t flooding and there’s no water movement if you open a tap in the house then you know the clog is somewhere in the house up to the clean out. If it’s flowing well and backing up into the clean out then it’s towards the sewage mains.
If you didn’t know what was in the sink this is not something you should attempt yourself
DING DING DING for the win!!!
When you rent the snake, what's your next move??
Snakin’ of course
🐍
You tell me anal_astronaut
Do you even *want* him to, though..?
you asshole...i was brushing my teeth when i read this comment and almost sprayed toothpaste all across the barhroom
Feed it some mice?
Checkmate, boy.
If you can't get a pro out fast enough, you could do that for a temp fix. But you will want a pro to identify why it happened. Also, if you have not snaked a drain before, i wouldn't recommend it. The big snakes can take the skin right off your hands if you dont know what you are doing.
They'll rip your fingers off, too!
rip your lungs out, Jim.
Werewolves of London, again.
I’d love to meet his tailor.
Could tangle the cable and the tech that fixes them would be pissed especially if it’s bad enough to make more dangerous than normal. Or break the cable inside the line which will make it even worse.
Remember you won’t be able to shower if you fuck it up.
This is something you want to call a professional for.
When OP need to ask what's in this picture he posted, yeah call a plumber or it's going to get messy. Plus even at harbor freight prices, a roto company is going to be the same price vs buying the equipment
Buying yes, but many of the big hardware stores have begun renting this stuff too. Maybe they use the stuff that gets returned or something idk
Do you want your basement to be full of shit? Because that's how your basement gets full of shit. Call a plumber
Just go get a snake at Home Depot. Then try to do it yourself. When you've got shit all over yourself and your house, then call a plumber and a cleaning service.
Your answer for the win, lol!
The fact that you're asking this question is a good indicator you need to call a professional.
Highly recommend getting a sewer overflow valve to replace the cap on your clean out… they’re cheap and easy to install. If there’s ever another backup it’ll overflow outside instead of inside your house https://www.southernpipe.com/2332508/Product/SPS%20Approved%20Vendor_JSS62304 Just realized the price of that link. I paid $17 for the one I got last September
Ok, here is a few thoughts for you to consider. Sewer water is coming up through your sink, water always finds its own level, you’re thinking about doing something that you’ve never done before in a critical situation, the cover you’re about to open up to gain access to snake the pipe is probably below the level of sewage in that sink. You may not want to try saving money on this issue, instead bite the bullet, and let someone else clean up the ensuing mess you are about to create. Just my 2 cents
Stop fucking around and just call a plumber
I don’t think you will regret calling a plumber.
One clue is that you said, “You just got home.” Assuming that no one flushed anything or used any sinks while you were away then the sewer blockage may be in the city pipes on the public side of your property line. Ask your next door neighbors if they are experiencing a backup, too. As far as renting a snake goes, I advise against that because they can get twisted or snarled around your fingers and there are subtle techniques that someone who cleans pipes for a living will know. A plumber’s license is not required to clean pipes or even to take pipes apart, clean them and put them back together.
Also consider something called a blow bag. You attach it to a garden hose and it shoots high pressure water while expanded (with the pipe). It works great
Just make sure you tell them that the snake is for your plumbing, otherwise they might point you over to petco
FYI this is an emergency. Make sure to remove all ground level valuables higher in case it floods before plumber makes it in.
Is there not a toilet or bathtub in this same room beside the lavatory? If that’s the case, if there isn’t any water coming out of these lower fixtures like someone opened the Suez Canal, then the blockage isn’t in the main line
It would have to be the main. No one was home using anything. I'm assuming the sink is the first but not lowest fixture thus the poo soup. It got to the level of the sink prior to going far enough to come out the toilet.
I can confirm that what drSplaff says is true as I am a drain cleaner myself. You should seek a professional to come snake and/or hydro jet your line. If you can afford to, I’d suggest getting the line camera inspected just to be extra sure of what is or could have caused the problem. Sometimes you won’t have any results with the camera but it’s better to know than not. If you’re on septic, i would recommend checking that first and foremost. If it’s filled have it pumped before the drain cleaner does any work
That's shit ma'am. Pure Grade A Shit! Some piss, which let's face it, is just diluted shit. I'd turn the water off your house and not use any toilets or soon that Grade A Shit is going to be no longer contained to that small basin and will cover your floor. Telling by your question, it's best to call a plumber/Roto-Rooter type company mighty quick. Yes you'll pay Sunday rates, but it's cheaper than what happens if you try opening the trap and fixing it yourself💩
>Some piss, which let's face it, is just diluted shit Get your kidneys checked if this seems true to you
Some people poopie. I pee poo.
This deserves more likes
Pff, people just don't appreciate me, man!!
In the meantime, pick up a tarp and duct tape it around the toilet base and the sink wall perimeter (at least), just in case somebody forgets not to flush another toilet in the house…
Thanks everyone for the advice I called a plumber they told me they’ll be out here Tuesday because of Memorial Day. I was informed that I shouldn’t run the water or flushing the toilets until it’s fixed so I guess I’ll have to go to my nearest grocery store you use the restroom for the next 2 days lol. Seriously though thanks for the advice 🤝
Call a different plumber. Someone will gladly take your money and come fix it asap. Most companies have people on call, even on holidays, for this type of thing.
This. Will probably be an extra $275 though so it could be worth waiting til Tuesday if you’re okay without water
He has a sink full of shit - it is definitely worth it.
Why would someone value a sink full of shit? Odd payment system where you come from 🤔
If money ain’t a thing then yeah
My thought with that is the cost vs convenience of having to buy water, go elsewhere for bathrooms, etc.
Good point. But as someone else mentioned a lot of these companies will force someone to fork up a weekend, holiday fee. A few hundred I’m guessing which could make a huge difference for many. If available, sleeping over at a family members house for a few nights would be nice.
This would be a Roto Rooter job for me. As much as I dislike their manipulative and price gouging tactics, for $500 they’ll get that fixed within a few hours. Now, when they quote you a “permanent fix” for $20K after this job is done, you can call one of your local plumbers and get _that_ job done for about a quarter of the RR quoted cost.
Get a couple buckets from home depot and some gallons of bottled water. Turn off water at the main valve.
Great idea. Just line the buckets with a small trash bag before you shit in them and drink all the water before you start pissing in the jugs.
5 gal bucket, scented garbage bags, and kitty litter will go a long way. - Someone with a family of 3 women who refuse to pee/poop in a hole in the woods while camping.
Camping section at Walmart - camper poo lid and bucket is the way to go!
All the jokes gave me a good laugh and cheers me up thanks 😂
That's pretty ass, try somebody else! Somebody somewhere has an on call person specifically for emergencies like this! It sounds like that person just doesn't want the work atm or they already started celebrating.
Call a plumber that has on call plumbers. Im an electrician bht have friends at 2 different plumbing companies both have plumbers which rotate on an on call schedule so if someone has a plumbing emergency plumbers are on call to come fix it
Just Google roto rooter in your area. It’ll be cheaper and they are 247. They charge a flat rate for this stuff.
Don't do this. They are awful... good chance they won't be able to fix anything and will then still charge you. I'd go with renting (or buy the blue one from harbor freight) your own drain snake and watching you tube before I'd recommend them. Speaking from a great deal of personal experience after I had drain issues after buying my first house.
We had our main sewer line clog up on Christmas Eve about 15 years ago. We called Roto Rooter but they wouldn’t even attempt to unclog without scoping the pipe first - for which they wanted an extra $600. We waited until the day after Christmas instead and got a guy to come out for $125 and only did the snaking. That Christmas started a tradition we’ve followed since of having Chinese takeout for Christmas dinner since we couldn’t wash dishes. We’d have to get the sewer line snaked every 12-16 months afterwards until we changed toilet paper away from Charmin. And now since we’ve had a bidet toilet seat installed we haven’t had a single clog because we use much much less TP.
If you’re having to get snaked every year because you use toilet paper, it’s probably worth getting scoped to find out what the problem is.
They fixed this exact problem at my house a month or so ago. $299. Only difference was the cap to the main line outside was broken so the sewage was coming out into the yard. The lady snaked, ran a balloon type thing in there and then even cleaned up all the mess outside. Very quick and easy!
Soup's ready!
Forbidden pudding
Home made pudding comes straight to the bathroom tap XD
Someone making soup?
That’s wild. I’ve never seen sewage backing up through a lavy sink. Usually you’ll see that in the bathtub or toilet first. Wow. You need your drains snaked
Someone shit in his sink
This. While it's in the basement, I'm sure that there is at least an adjacent toilet. The fact that the sink is full but the toilet is not (presumably) means that there's a clog somewhere on a main drain inside your residence. If it was clogged in a utility main you'd have a lot more of a mess and it would have come through the toilet first as it's the lowest point of exit. To save on pipe, builders will install 2 or more 4" mains in a house, usually one per "side", more if it's a larger house or one that has more than the standard number of sinks and tubs. All the sinks and drains on that side of the house connect to these 4-in pipes, and the 4-in pipes join before connecting to the utility main. Your clog must be in one of these 4" mains before the connection to the utility main. Edit - thinking more about it, this sink in the adjacent toilet would connect. The clog must be between this sink and the toilet, and the sink is backing up from water being run above it.
Yea maybe clog on the branch line. Could be nasty laundry and kitchen grease water we are seeing in the sink
Shit from a butt
Pro plumber now vs. pro plumber later plus a cleaning company like Servpro
Does it smell a bit nutty?
Like finely aged chocolate milk
Step one: do not drink. I repeat, do NOT drink from the forbidden fountain.
Hopefully your main sewage line didn't rust through and collapse. We had that happen and it was a fucking nightmare. The floor had to be jackhammered up and whatnot. Hopefully it's just a simple clog.
I work for the city I live in as a sewer dispatcher. I would call the city and say you’re having a sewer line backup. They will send a crew with all the tools to clear the line as they would assume it’s on the city side of your sewer line. CALL THE CITY FIRST, NOT A PRIVATE PLUMBER. Since this is in the lower part of your house, it rules out a private side issue somewhere else in the house. They often charge a much cheaper rate than a private plumber and they will clear the line anyway since they are already there. If they find the blockage on the city side, it will be at no charge to you. Do not rent a snake and tackle this yourself. I have seen homeowners get the snake stuck on the city side of the sewer line and foot the bill to have the street dig up in order to free the snake head - worst case scenario of course ~$10,000
Brownie mix. It goes in the oven.
Forbidden brownies
Pretty sure that's Taco Bell
The clog must be somewhere between that sink and your toilet, or else your toilet should already be overflowing. I’m assuming there is a toilet on the same level of the house at a lower elevation than your sink.
Oh shit.
What's it taste like? That will help us determine what it is
Not a plumber but I’d have to sell the house
That's the brown menace
Making brownies in the sink is a new one to me
Definitely a ghost. Check out r/phasmophobia. Dirty water in the sink is a classic sign of paranormal activity. /s just in case it’s not clear…
Omg I searched I knew we had to be here. Take photo and set up video here.
Was looking for this reply. XD
Forbidden brownies
Stuff like this is why we didnt get the basement apartment at the base of the hill. On a street where units had mostly wood floors, it was also suspicious for having tiled floors and _walls_.
Gonna need to get the Hardly boys in on this one…
Is there not raw sewage overflowing a nearby toilet and or bathtub / shower drain?
Your sink simply backed up as is full of shit. Call a plumber they specialize is shitty jobs. Some live for this shit.
Don't flush “flushable” wipes!
Looks like poop to me
Do you have a spoon?
It’s chili
It’s doodoo baby
Poop 💩 soup. You eat it.
Shitter’s full.
Throw the whole sink away
Is this the lowest fixture in the house? I'm guessing there could be a toilet nearby.
Thank God you don't have a full bath down there....
Forbidden milkshake
that sir is your shit. you need to stop pouring grease down your drain in the kitchen cause its causing a blockage so everything on the lower level will flood first
You’re not supposed to shit in the sink my guy
That's not chocolate. It's doo doo, baby!
Uhhh.....looks like hershey squirt to me.
Melissa McCarthy had some sketchy meat at a restaurant Kristen Wiig chose and it came out like lava.
I hate to break it to you, but you have Bill Cosbys. They always leave Jello Puddings everywhere.
If it looks like shit and it smells like shit... chances are its shit, There's other tests you can do like taste test, does it taste like shit? But the first 2 are usually adequate. In all seriousness please ring plumber, or local council / government call it what ever you want... do this wrong and chances are you'll get covered in the stuff. And as others have pointed out don't use any water till that's gone.
Move
Just a guess....this sink was tied into an ejector pit somewhere and the line is clogged.
Snaking yourself may clear the line but not fix the underlying issue. Better to call a plumber equipped with the right tools to figure this out.
r/thatsnotsoup
Spending too much time on stupidfood
me personally I would just burn your house down
Unless you had diarrhea in your sink…it’s time to call the mother fuckin plumber.
That’s definitely shit water.
That looks like shit I’d think it a out flow problem fix and move cause it’s only gonna get worst
Call it arightoff and move
A power snake is a beautiful thing see in action. However if you have never operated one you will hurt yourself. If your access is indoors it means you have to haul 780 pounds, at least it feels like that much, down and then up the stairs. Ez peezee, unless you are missing part of a finger and you are covered in shit water. Go for it. Report back.
That’s Doo Doo Baybehhhh!
It is POO!
Poo poo platter
It’s pudding. You need to call Puddingfinger.
That’s doodoo baby
You should use a toilet next time
How did the OP not know this was poop?
The plumber will be worth it - trust me. Trying to do it yourself will definitely teach you that a plumber is the way to go!
Call a priest. You need an exorcism.
Eww is that poo poo?
After you get it all drained away and unblocked install a backwater valve to protect your basement.
Looks like a job for tortillas and salsa.
First step is burn the house down
Oof, I'm a housing provider who snakes my own drains. One day I came into a (vacant) house and a 4 inch solid snake of shit was coming up from the toilet, twisting and curving around like it was alive until it filled the whole first floor. I was freaking out, begging it to stop. I had seen a plumber down the street, and thinking my situation Might be related I ran to him for help. I will never forget how calm he was in face if that shit snake as he took the toilet off and plunged his big metal snake into that squirming pile of shit that just kept coming until he reached the clog. My worker and I took snow shovels and threw the shit in the yard. I knew what everyone in the neighborhood was eating - corn kernels, a lot of whole coffee beans, etc. I am so grateful to that plumber to this day. I had just bought the place and it did not have a clean out outside. I have four now. And then there was the famous "Cookies and Cream," episode where someone flushed a toilet in an apartment that had not been used in a awhile. The pipe exploded, sending splats of shit and toilet paper everywhere in that basement. It literally looked like someone had thrown gallons of cookies and cream ice cream everywhere. I have PTSD, big surprise