We had a plumber come in yesterday to snake out our kitchen sink. It was draining really slow for a few days. Baking Soda, Vinegar and hot water didn't work. Neither did Drano.
On the phone, plumber MK quotes us $95 to snake a kitchen drain. Thought that was reasonable (seems like everybody charges around that amount anyway) and asked him to come.
MK comes, looks at the sink, fills it with water and sees that it isn't draining.
Later, I come out from a meeting and husband calls out to me saying it's a bigger issue than we thought.
MK says that he ran his snake upwards towards the sink at least 20-30 feet and it only seems like 15-20 feet and it's clear. The issue is in the drain pipe leading outwards and he's going to have to cut our pipes (arrow B in the image). It will be costly.
"Are you sure ?" I ask.
MK says he's been doing this for a long time, he knows what he's doing. I asked what it was that could've clogged it, he says it was probably years of grease buildup. It happens.
I was going to ask another question when MK abruptly cuts me off, starts walking up and signals to my husband to follow him. He says to husband "you understand me, right ? you know what I'm talking about ?"
The attitude / tone was that he didn't want to talk to me who didn't know about these things. I let it go.
In the kitchen, I then asked if it could be the garbage disposal ? Did they check ? can he check the sink first before cutting up pipes ?
He reluctantly then opened the drain behind the garbage disposal, inserted the snake, and almost immediately, found the blockage and cleared it.
Blockage cleared and no pipes were cut. He charged us $115 because he had to snake twice. I didn't argue anymore even though to me, it made more sense to start snaking CLOSER to where you're seeing the drainage issues, right ?
Later, MK would tell us that garbage disposals make things more difficult because he has to work around them and there isn't a lot of space.
...
The silver lining in all this is that while MK was cleaning up, I followed up with the husband to check if he mentioned the Bathroom#4 project that we were looking to do for Swe-cha's room.
Husband: No, ayoko sa kanya
Me: Why ?
Husband: Kasi sinungitan ka niya eh.
*kilig*.
Anyway, we did ask him to give an estimate anyway just so we'd have a ballpark idea.
Scope of work:
- replace toilet and tank
- replace bathroom vanity, keep existing countertop, replace sink faucet
- replace shower fixture
We were quoted $500 for labor costs, not including materials.
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