Our Halloween Horror Story #ThankfulThursday

Meows from Mudpie!

Two years ago on Halloween night we got 4 inches of rain and our leak prone basement nearly did Mommy in. A water disaster couldn't possibly happen again on Halloween - even worse this time - could it? 

It could, and it did. 

I'll turn things over to Mommy to tell you all the nasty details.

Mommy here. On our Friday Fill Ins last week I mentioned that I was worried about the washing machine because on Thursday when I went to do a load of laundry I found it half full of water. Naively I hoped it was just a fluke, but of course I could never be that lucky.

One thing that kept nagging at me was remembering that on Wednesday the sump pump had gone off for the first time in a number of months after we'd had quite a bit of rain on Tuesday. I mentioned it to my dad but he assured me the two couldn't be connected, it was just a coincidence, and that the problem had to be with the washing machine itself. Throughout the day on Friday and Saturday I kept checking it, and it remained empty.

Saturday evening it rained quite heavily and just before midnight the pump went off. Before going to bed I decided I would put my mind at ease and check the washing machine...only to find it half full of water again. That gave me my answer. The main drainage pipe had to be plugged and it was pushing water back in.

I bailed the water out once again and prepared for a night dozing on the couch as I knew I would have to remove the water manually every time the pump went off. (I didn't dare let the water out of the machine on its own for fear of letting more water in, and obviously I couldn't dump it down the sump pump, so every single pail of water had to be carried up the basement stairs.)

The pump didn't go off again until 6AM, then 10AM, then 11:20, and by noon it was going off every 50-55 minutes. The rain was predicted to continue until early evening, and the washing machine wasn't just filling halfway anymore, it was filling nearly to the top. I was having to remove water as it was coming in to keep it from overflowing. Then I would carry nearly 10 full pails up the basement stairs to empty the basin as best I could before starting all over.

Talk about fighting a losing battle! 

I was hoping to avoid an emergency call to a plumber but by early afternoon I realized I needed help. The septic company came around 4 with a 60 foot drain auger and pulled out a tree root, clearing the pipe. They warned it'll probably happen again and the pipe will need to be replaced at some point. (Coincidentally, the man who came was named was Brandon. I was almost tempted to say, "Let's go, Brandon!" to see what his reaction would be, but I thought better of it.)

Needless to say, Halloween was completely ruined. On top of that, I got to see less than an hour of the second-to-last NASCAR race of the season. 

In spite of everything, I'm thankful that the pump went off once last week to signal there was a problem, and I'm thankful I trusted my gut and checked the pump before going to bed on Saturday night, because if I hadn't by Sunday morning water would've been everywhere. 

And yes, my father has heard more than one "I told you so" out of me the last few days!