Washing blunders and what the……..

Washing is something large families do EVERY SINGLE DAY, so when something goes wrong with the washing machine, leaking pipes, an overflowing sink or drainage problems occur; these mishaps can create complete chaos and all efforts of getting through the days washing is a big fail.

Overflowing sinks would not be a problem if the water just went over and onto the floor only, however water also gets inside the cupboards and underneath everything which leads to having to pull everything out and mopping up with a large amount of towels ~ which of course creates MORE WASHING!!!

ALL of the overflowing sink issues at No Excuses, have been caused by someone else that does not frequently use the laundry eg. a visiting overseas nanny, a child and of course the husband!. These people have walked away from the flowing tap with the plugin; which has happened quite a number of times. 

Of course floor drains in laundries and bathrooms are there on purpose, however strangely enough Melbourne homes and plumbers don’t install these unless you ask for them.   Upon our home extension and renovation years ago, I just managed to remind our plumber about the floor drain which was ONLY JUST put into the laundry.  I was given a strange look “are you serious” and when they came back to do the internal pipes and water connections, low and behold they had a major problem and water went everywhere on the floor and of course down that drainage hole I asked to be installed “aren’t you glad I got you to install that drain”………I would love to know if the same plumber changed his ways at his next job!

Drain blockages are also a major problem ~ especially the toilet which is a frequent occurrence in large families; owning a plunger is a MUST!  

Whenever there is a blocked toilet 9 times out of 10, no matter how many times kids are told “DON’T USE THAT TOILET, ITS NOT WORKING” is when at least 3 or 4 go and continue to do number 2’s blocking it even more.  There is nothing worse than standing head over bowl, plugging a bog of live sewage up and down in the hope it doesn’t splatter in ones face.  The real problem here is that you can’t even hold your nose to avoid the stench either (sorry if this is too much information; however if you haven’t got kids yet, perhaps this might be a warning sign)!

This woman clearly does not have children and is just posing for a photo opportunity but why over a toilet bowl of all places? (google image)

Another form of blocked pipes would have to be any particular drain pipe, yet seeing I spoke about toilets above, there was also the time when the outside drop pit (septic tank) and pump was not working.  Thankfully this occurred on a weekend and hubby found the problem….some offending child decided to flush their knickers down the loo (toilet for those not familiar with Aussie slang 😉 ) which got tangled around the actual pump.

Then there was the time when water was spewing up the laundry drain pipe during every load of washing.  The cause of this debacle; lots of rocks, a boulder, pebbles and toys down the outside drain/air pipe (at least a 10 litre bucket full).

Then there are those times when objects are placed down toilets, or in particular down the sink or pipe holes. Children are just stupid, mindless and down right annoying when they get a fetish with placing items down holes.  

Only recently, I had to replace my 8+ year old washing machine as it sprung a leak (hence the towels on the floor in the first photo above).  So when I noticed water overflowing from the runoff hose outlet – my first thoughts were NOT AGAIN!  

Pulling out the hose to drain just into the sink…No Excuses took a look down the washing machine drainage hole (with a torch) and found the following (after becoming a plumber for a good hour):

What the &?$#@ is a red matchbox car doing down this drain hole?

My advice to new parents ~ HIDE YOUR KEYS!