When it Rains, It Pours

What can I say? Yesterday was such a strange day! The husband and I received delivery of our Christmas present: a new refrigerator. We save up money during the year and then purchase a big ticket item for a Christmas present to each other. 

The delivery people wouldn't hook up the water line to the ice maker because it was the wrong kind of line. So the husband called a plumber who gave an estimate of $580. Wha??? really? The husband said I'll do it myself. Oh uh. 

I need to stop and backtrack a bit. The husband had to turn off the water to the fridge so we could unplug it. It leaked because the clamp on the line wasn't strong enough and so I was mopping water on my kitchen floor and using a stock pot to catch the water POURING out of the line. We finally got that end of the line clamped and went to the basement laundry room and found the other end of the line drip drip dripping onto the cement floor behind the washing machine. We picked up the old carpet piece (that was now destroyed), pulled out the washer and rigged up a Rube Goldberg contraption since the valve was all the way off but still dripping. Because the vent pipe was right there and couldn't move we had a milk carton with a cutout to catch the drips wired to another pipe. There was a hole in the bottom of the carton to release the water into a plastic pan that was screwed to a stud. There was a hole in the bottom of the pan that allowed the water to drip into a 5 gallon bucket. 

So that's the backstory. The husband spent a goodly portion of the day getting the water line to the ice maker hooked up. Fridge works. Ice maker works. All water drips stopped. Problem solved.

But wait! There's more. The husband ran the dishwasher. I went to the basement to retrieve a 6pack of soda and once again the laundry room floor was flooded. Worse this time. The drain to the kitchen backed up. Yuck. I couldn't deal with more water related issues so I turned off the light and went to bed.

My plan of attack this morning is to roll up that carpet and get it outside. Then pull the washer and dryer out from the wall and use the shop vac to suck up everything. I will need to mop the concrete floor after that. Meanwhile, the husband will be calling our local professional (indie) drain cleaner/rooter guy. Then everything gets put back into place after the drain is reamed out.

This isn't the first time. We have lived here for decades and have called for the drain clean out about 3 or 4 times. It comes from people putting the wrong things down the garbage disposal. I've learned, but others in the household haven't and this is the result.