Comments | a_boleyn: My Kitchen Sink .... I love it again

a_boleyn

My Kitchen Sink .... I love it again

Jan 17, 2012 19:18

My house is at least 70 yrs old, if not more.

And the kitchen sink has been temperamental since we moved in about 25 yrs ago. We had the drainage pipe all the way to the city pipe 'snaked out' about 15 yrs ago and for the last 3 months, I've 'plunger'ed and then used various drain cleaning products to try to solve the slow draining issues. This ( Read more... )

kitchen sink

Comments 11

anonymous January 18 2012, 00:30:06 UTC

Oh Maria, my heart goes out to you. It's always something with these wonderful old houses, isn't it? I recall about 7 years ago we replaced our old octopus boiler in the basement; it literally took up about 1/2 of our storage area. We bought a new on demand domestic heat and hot water system that was small and hung on the wall (about 25cm x 50cm x 80cm). Because these new boilers don't use much energy, they don't expel any bi-product heat, so the basement became very, very cold (unbenounced to us, that old monster of a boiler actually heated the basement!). We had to start using extra heaters but fortunately, we didn't spend a lot of time down there; but we did spend a lot of time in the living room with the lovely fire in the wood burning fireplace. One day I walked downstairs to find the entire basement filled with thick smoke, we thought the house was burning down. Alas, the cold basement no longer provided the negative pressure to push the smoke from the main floor chimney up, instead it actually pulled the smoke down and just ( ... )

a_boleyn January 18 2012, 00:36:56 UTC

Thanks for sharing your own story of the 'joys' of owning an old house.

I like this house a lot. It was built to last and if I had 100k to spend, I'd gut both bathrooms and the kitchen, replace the carpeting upstairs and downstairs with laminate. And then there are the windows. And a new paint job inside and out. Whew ... if only. :)

At least I have an empty basement after last summer's big cleanup.

anonymous January 18 2012, 04:39:42 UTC

I wouldn't trade our place for a new house either, built to last that's for sure!
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com

ext_877277 January 18 2012, 08:45:47 UTC

Aaah, I'll have all these things to look forward to one day :D

I already get a few problems with drainage in my apartment. French building standards aren't the highest, and the drainage pipes from the sink are really, really thin so they clog easily. Usually nothing a bit of drain-cleaner and vigorous plunging doesn't fix though.

a_boleyn January 18 2012, 23:02:18 UTC

The joys of home ownership are many indeed. :)

My plumber was horrified when I told him that I had poured Liquid Plumber/Drano/Max Gel and various other caustic drain cleaners down there cause he said they damage the pipes regardless of their claims. In fact his recommendation for a weekly drain treatment is to fill up the sink with very hot water and then release it all at once. The combination of heat/pressure should melt and wash out the grease that still accumulates in your pipes regardless of how careful you are not to pour grease down your sink or to blot the fat in your frying pans etc before you wash them.

ext_877277 January 20 2012, 02:01:19 UTC

My mom used to use bicarbonate of soda, she would empty the package from the refrigerator down the sink in bits...not sure if it worked, but she claimed it made it less stinky (I guess her traps weren't the greatest either!). Glad it all worked out Maria.
Eva http://kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com

a_boleyn January 20 2012, 03:08:28 UTC

The green movement recommends using your mother's method ... 1 cup of baking soda followed by 3 cups boiling water used once a week. In case of a clog, repeat above, and if that doesn't help, follow the 1 cups baking soda with 1 cup of household vinegar. I hope to avoid having to do this with just using the hot water rinse. :)

anonymous January 18 2012, 18:22:16 UTC

I am happy your problems are fixed now! I also have minor problems with the kitchen sink. I hope I will never need to call a plumber though. Sissi

a_boleyn January 18 2012, 22:43:36 UTC

It's a amazing how many people share their DIY (DO IT YOURSELF) experiences when you start talking about repair work you've just spent tons of money on having done. In fact, a fellow supply teacher (female about my age) told me a few similar repairs she did herself for not a lot of money. Made me feel like a lazy person. :)

ext_870394 January 20 2012, 23:33:47 UTC

My house is about 30 years old, but we live right next to the canyon so we have crazy winds. For the first 3 years of living here we had all sorts of fixing, especially winter time. I think this is actually the first year we didn't have to spend any money "fixing". Not to mention we have a lot to upgrade in this house... Glad your sink is working now!

a_boleyn January 20 2012, 23:49:01 UTC

I wish I lived in the country only because of the scenery and the quiet but the heart of the city is suitable for me because I hate to drive. When I retire, I will move into a condominium where I'll just have to call the manager when something needs to be fixed and I won't have to worry about paying someone to cut my grass and shovel the snow. :)

I'm glad about the sink too cause I was hating to do any cooking since I had to bail out the sink 4 or 5 times to get rid of the extra water after I did the extra dishes. :)