Frankenstein Plumbing

Last night Christie helped me move the washer and dryer out of the corner where they had sat on a rotten platform of 3/4" plywood. After that ordeal, we lifted the platform to discover... rubble, and a flat iron plate with four bolts. So, I'm no expert, but it looked like the floor had been jackhammered some years ago and (possibly) a check valve had been installed at that time. It's not clear to me whether the intention was that it would be maintained or not. But... it's clear it hasn't been touched recently, since the washing machine was right on top of that spot.

After the discover, we started digging to uncover a fairly large area of the floor had been dug out. Even more exciting was actually getting to see that a section of drain pipe had a hole - which I suspect was from the jackhammering - that had been possibly patched all this time, and definitely leaking slowly. So, of course all it took was the disturbance of us digging to set the septic water free! Yes, it was gross. But, I fashioned a plug by using a wine bottle cork wrapped with duct tape and some silicone cault around the outside. As of this morning, I believe we were pool-free in that area of the basement.

The plumber will be out this week.