The Snake In The Bathroom

You know how much I love to share the good, bad and the ugly so today I am going to share a little unplanned project that came about due to a momentary lapse in judgment. Not to discriminate against my male readers (thanks guys for checking in), but if you’re a woman who has her nails painted everyday of the week then you might want to look away. Me, I paint mine with clear for special occasions only. At present my favorite is a fast dry 30 second top coat that I can put on after getting dressed and before getting in the car for whatever special event I’m on my way to.

 Anyhow back to the story. So I was cleaning the bathrooms, quite efficiently I might add, with the tub and sinks all done I moved on to the toilet. With the task almost complete I went to wipe the rim with the cleaning wash cloth I had in my hand and that's when it happened, the commode made brunch out if my wash cloth.

 That thing slipped effortlessly down the toilet as if its sole purpose for existing was to stop my chores dead in their tracks.

Now before you judge me take a moment to Google the phrase 'flushed washcloth down the toilet' and see how many results you get.

I yelled down the hall, "HONEY!!!” which is husband-wife code for I just did something stupid. I shamefully admitted what I had done and immediately called my sister who lives close to see if she had a plumbing snake. I gave my husband specific instructions not to flush anything in the house.  I didn't want it drawn any further into the plumbing and somehow I thought flushing the other toilets would create a vacuum and suck my washcloth to places unknown. I was desperate to keep Roto-Rooter as far from my home and wallet as possible.

My sister was running the roads during my washcloth crisis and wouldn't be able to look until she returned from her errands. Alas she couldn't find her snake, but I told her I had two boys so surely this would not be the last time something unexpected would take a whirl through the plumbing. As I was reminded recently by one of my sister’s Facebook post that these things happen, her first was several solo cups that she keeps next to the sink for teeth brushing and most recently she fished out a plastic fork that was wreaking havoc on her otherwise pristine plumbing.

So 2 hours after my mishap I returned home with a $20, twenty foot snake from the Naylor’s around the corner. I like to support local businesses and for one or two things it's easier than maneuvering the big box hardware stores. Yes I did get a little sidetracked and came home with two pretty yard flags, guilty as charged.

Plumbing snakes have gotten a lot more compact over the years and aren't as intimidating as I remembered. The man at the store said to continue to feed the snake into the plumbing until I felt resistance and then lock it and turn clockwise.

My husband thought I lost my mind a little when I yelled out, "honey, come take pictures of this." I did as I was instructed and fed the snake and turned at each resistance I met, I would say 15 feet in I told my husband if I didn't have it by now it was long out of the way, and probably a lost cause.

I pulled in the snake and twisted each time it felt stuck, the final resistant tug brought forth my sad little thin and worn wash cloth. Victory! I had met the plumbing challenge head on and emerged victorious. I have pictures, but I decided to spare you all. I will say that I am glad that I had just finished cleaning. I did need to use a cleaning pumice stone to clean the metal on porcelain stains and I finished the whole process with a splash of bleach.

I learned two very important lessons 1) use a flush-able wipe to give the rim a wipe down and 2) the proper way to use a plumbing snake.

So there you have it my new experience. I love learning new things but maybe next time not so much with the business end of my plumbing. I promise I’ll be back with some yummy recipe or thrifty project for you next, but with all those Google results I figured this was something we had to address. Come back soon.