the hole story

It starts at the weekend.  Anniemay announces from the bathroom that the shower is blocked.  I am to investigate.  She's standing in a couple of inches of water.  It takes a few hours to drain away.  When I eventually have a shower, the same thing happens.

Once the water has gone I inspect the 'hole' .  I cannot see anything obvious which might have caused this.  We've only been in the house for a week or so - no time for the detritus normally associated with long-term shower use to collect.

Just for the fun of it, I flush the loo - and to my amazement - and horror - the water backs up into the shower tray.

Monday morning, I recount this to the builders when they turn up on site.  They leap into action and start digging away at the drains outside.  The boss turns up and there are huddled conversations - no one knows how this could have happened.

Half a dozen of the team are pulled from other work to excavate the drainage system.  Eventually they discover that the pipe works have been connected up incorrectly, sending waste water (including the nasty stuff) back up to the bathroom. ??? 

The boss is furious - the water company (who shall remain Anglian) insisted on laying the drainage on site.  Not just that - they apparently charged the builders £25,000 for the privilege.

It takes two days and no showers - but plenty of home-made biscuits for the lads - before things are back to normal.  

It could have been a lot worse.  We're just lucky to have a great team of lads on site.