June 20, 2007

what lies beneath


So we open up a letter from the city, asking for us to notify them when we have fixed the plumbing issue from our outtake to the alley. A year ago, they reminded us, they noticed that black smoke was billowing out of the broken end cap, and told us it was our responsibility to fix it.

Um. Yeah. Considering we didn't move in until Oct 31, and there was nothing disclosed in the sale transaction, thanks for the letter A YEAR LATER.

We did fix the broken end cap (barely visible next to the black mat in the picture, my fantasy flagstone project that still has not been started), thinking that the crappy POs just knocked it off with a lawn mower and didn't bother to replace it. But billowing black smoke from the sewer? Say it ain't so.

2 comments:

Jayne said...

I just might have the answer to the billowing black smoke from the sewer mystery....Some municipalities use smoke testing to check for breaks in the sewer system. They drop a smoke bomb (kinda like ones the rest of us buy on your anniversary!) down a manhole & look for it to seep up through the ground. Out in the street, the city's problem. In your yard, your problem. Nice, huh? Too bad the sucky POs didn't tell you about this!

the reluctant remodeler said...

Yep, that's what they were doing here. I still haven't called the city, though, to ask them why it took them a year to notify the homeowners.