I am sick of covid-19! Two and a half months ago, the thought of being housebound for two months, able to work on all the projects I’ve always wanted to accomplish, was a welcoming thought. But after being self-quarantined for two months, with only occasional ventures out to the grocery store, I’m bored and lazy.

I started doing a deep clean of my kitchen. However, every time I went down there prepared to spend hours doing work, it was too cold. My kitchen is comfortable when all I’m doing is cooking. But spending hours down there cleaning out cabinets and polishing wood was not enough of a reason to turn on the basement furnace to heat up the entire first floor. So I did what I could each time and quickly retreated back upstairs to the warmth of my bedroom.

I have a bad habit of putting dishes in the sink to soak and then leaving them overnight. Then each morning I would refill the sink and actually wash the dishes. Part of the reason is that I have wonderful hot water pressure everywhere throughout my house except in the kitchen. It would take over a half hour for the sink to fill. The other day I went to empty the sink and my worst nightmare occurred. The sink wouldn’t drain!

I removed the dishes and attempted to plunge the drain. But all that did was send nasty gunk into the other sink. I came back upstairs, disgusted with myself because I know that I had put some stuff down the sink I shouldn’t have. And without good hot water pressure, that stuff didn’t move through my pipes and was probably the reason the sink clogged. The water finally did go down, but it took all night. When I ran fresh water in the sink, it again filled up, and this time it wasn’t going anywhere.

My normal handyman wasn’t available and I am sure during this pandemic that repair people are charging premium amounts to come into your home. It’s a scary thought because you don’t know what they are bringing in and they don’t know what you have.  Finally, I called my handyman and got some free advice.  Now all I had to do was follow it!

I also watched a couple of YouTube videos. I already knew that stuff like Drano is an absolute no-no. I have an auger, so I removed the P-Trap from the sink and began to snake it through my pipes. I even put a bit of masking tape on the auger cable which was approximately the distance between the main drain wall and the middle of the sink. It took three tries, but I got all the gook out, which included two stems from cherries. I haven’t had cherries since last summer. Those stems prove what we send down the sink doesn’t disintegrate at a rapid pace.

And since I was under the sink, I also disconnected the hot water line. Just as I suspected, little pieces of rock had clogged the line, preventing the water from flowing through. I cleaned all of that out, and reattached the line, and turned on the hot water. OMG my hot water was no longer trickling! It was a nice steady flow. I let it run for five minutes to make sure the sink’s draining line was clear. It was! Boy was I proud.

I probably saved over $100 doing the work myself. Common sense along with PVC piping made the job much easier. Female homeowners, unless you have the money to always pay somebody, they are things you have to learn to do yourself!