This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 23 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 23 years here in a weekly blog post.
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I wanted to show you guys a news article about my apartment complex from 2017. It's about raw sewage leaking out all over the common area and the alley where people parked their cars. I am showing this because it happened again. Just like the news story says, it happens over and over several times a year. I'll post a picture of what's happening now down below. But now there's no on site manager and maintenance hasn't plugged the problem.
After this article appeared in the paper a few years ago, the guy that called them was evicted a short time later which is why I'm not calling the paper or health department. Plus the fact that it keeps happening and they refuse to fix the problem. I've lived here 23 years and this happens at least 3 times a year and the health department has been called several times already in that time and it hasn't fixed the problem so I'm just venting about it.
This is what was happening this week. At first it was just a little bit and all that white stuff you see is used toilet paper that's coming up out of that pipe.
Then on Thursday, the water started pouring out and leaking down to the sidewalk that leads to the stairs and people are just walking through it. This pipe is at the end of my building and it's been like this for a couple of weeks.
The funny thing is everyone in my building got a notice the other day that said they wanted everyone to stop flushing paper towels, baby wipes, flushable wipes, feminine care products and plastics down the toilet because they have to keep calling the plumber to clear the pipes. They said if it continues to happen that everyone in this building will be getting charged for the plumbing bills from now on. My husband used to work apartment maintenance for this apartment complex when we first moved in here and he used to tell me all the time that the pipes in this complex were all messed up. Tree roots have broken through the pipes underground and that's what anything that gets flushed down the toilet gets stuck on. That the plumber has to use a special cutting tool on the snakes to cut the tree roots so the toilet paper and whatever else will move smoothly through the pipes. But hey, what the hell do I know. I've only lived here for 23 years.
I noticed when I took Falcor out that raw sewage was pouring out at the end of the building across from me too. There's supposed to be a cap on that hole. There are caps on the holes like this one on other buildings.
Thankfully on Thursday evening the plumber did come out and fix the problem. I was in the bathroom and the toilet started gurgling. So I put the toilet lid down cause I wasn't sure what the hell was happening. I wasn't sure if some snake or mouse was swimming up the drain in my toilet or what. I wasn't about to sit down though. Don't want to have to explain a snake bite on my rear to an ER doc.
Right as I'm walking out of the bathroom, there's this really loud squealing noise coming from the walls in the bathroom or the pipes, not sure and all of the sudden water starts erupting from inside the toilet onto the floor. The noise disappears, the dog is barking his head off and so I look out front from my bedroom widow and see the plumbers truck is out there. So I went out there and told them what happened and he said the maintenance will be by with a wet/dry vac if I need it. I told him no, I put down paper towels and will mop it up when I go back in. He said the pipes are clear but then he said there was plastic bags, hair extensions, rags and a diaper that had all been flushed down the toilets which had clogged everything up. But at least the outside drains are no longer over flowing with raw sewage. I wonder if everyone is going to get charged for the plumbing bill like they said they would in the last notice they sent out. I spent 20 minutes cleaning up the water that got all over the bathroom floor. But at least the raw sewage has stopped overflowing from the pipes outside.
So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.