Probably shouldn't have done that DIY Plumbing Edition

I went to throw some bad food into the garbage disposal. "That's too big of a piece, that won't work". "Nahhhh, it'll be fine". Turn on the disposal, hear it grind and suddenly see the water rising in the sink. Ooops. Well, I can fix that. So today I decided to fix it. I go under the sink, take it all apart and examine the pipes. I cleaned it out though there wasn't much, and put it all back together. Ran the disposal and up comes the water again. So, I put a bucket under the sink, which incidentally was too small for the water in the sink, and I take the pipes apart again. So now I have a clog and a mess to wipe up. Grab some rags, look at the pipes and see no clog. I see the pipe into the basement, so I go and take that apart downstairs and the water in that pipe overflowed into the basement. Bad news, that pipe isn't clogged either. It's the big pipe that goes to the main pipe. Uh oh. So I go and get my snake and that's broken. So to Home Depot I go to buy another one. Back in the basement I go. Whatever is clogging the main drain is not budging. *Sigh*. Having worked on all this for almost three hours I decide to put the drain back together. I mean a slow drain is better than not using the sink. So, drain back together, basement wet vacced, Kitchen floor mopped, me showered, and now ready for bed.  Fast forward to today

I got out of work at about 8:30 tonight. Sick of not being able to fully use my sink I said "I'll try out my new tools and see if I can get this thing cleared tonight. At worst I'll just call the plumber tomorrow.....right? Ha. So, I work at the clog for about an hour. I'm trying from every angle, every tool, even tried mickey mousing a couple of things with my only success being breaking another snake.  Sooooo okay I give. I'll put the sink back together make sure it's all secure and then I'll just resort to the Drano. So, 1, 2, 3 the sink pipes are back together. Time to run the water to make sure there's no leaks. While I'm looking under the sink I hear it "raining" in the basement. Damn, I didn't secure the nut downstairs well enough. Trotting down stairs I get to the pipe and I tighten the nut. It's tight. What the????? Then I notice the spray coming out of the corroded connector that looked like it was ready to split.   Well, not ready to, but already split.   After a second of trying to close it and making it worse, I remember the plumber who installed my water heater showed me where my main shut off switch was. Good, I have a plan.  I quickly find the shut off, switch the lever off and wha la.... the pipe is still spraying...WHAT THE .....(yeah, it was the main switch for the water heater....) I'm standing there and I'm thinking Oh shit oh shit....I need to call the plumber (an emergency plumber....at 9:30 at night, why couldn't I have JUST WAITED. Then a lightbulb appeared above my head..PLUMBERS PUTTY!!!!  Surely that would work to stop the leak. It's what I use to prevent my sink from leaking after installing a new plunger in the bathroom sink. I run upstairs and grab the putty. I used almost all of it to stop the leak...cause it was that big of a split and when I pushed the putty on initially it made it leak more. 15 frantic minutes later, the leak stopped. OH MY GOODNESS. Emergency plumber averted. Alas there will be no fixing the corroded pipe, it's way out of my league, that was caused by a clog which was caused because I put a clump of roast beef in the garbage disposal thinking....How bad can it be??? I can unclog my pipes....(As I say that to the plumber the next day, he says "Yup, everyone says that.  Then they call us".  

So once again everything is cleaned up, I am showered, my tendonitis is screaming, my plantar fasciitis is laughing at me, and I have to call a plumber....Guess I probably shouldn't have put that roast beef chunk in the disposal after all.  Yep, probably shouldn't have done that.

The good thing in all of this is I can think quick in an emergency. I had plumbers putty on hand and thought to use it, I am able to still function even if in pain, and I know what exactly the problem was and where it was because I was able to do as much as I could. I have a job and am still making money to be able to pay for the pipe repair.  Life is still good because these are temporary problems that can be resolved. This is a very tiny hiccup in life and all is still well in my world. Now, if I could only learn to listen to my gut when it says..."I think this might be a really bad idea, you probably shouldn't do that."