A doctor calls a plumber in the middle of the night. ‘Why are you ringing me at this hour?’ says the plumber. ‘Look, it’s an emergency,’ says the doctor. ‘If it was the other way round you’d expect me to come out, wouldn’t you?’ ‘Okay,’ says the plumber. ‘What’s the problem?’ ‘The toilet’s broken,’ says the doctor. The plumber says, ‘Give it two aspirin and call me again if it’s not better in the morning.’
Should the toilet seat be left up or down?
This controversial topic will be discussed over the next few weeks
It’s a question that constantly arises when men and women share the same toilet. For some reason, this seemingly trivial question creates passion normally unseen from all sorts of people. It has been a topic of great debate throughout this country for many years, in fact since the toilet seat was invented.
It’s pretty clear that this old debate and your “position” is divided by gender.
Women complain that it should be the man’s responsibility to lower the toilet seat after use.
Whilst men seem to question why women should be heard all the time. Or in fact why it’s an issue at all
Now my wife, living in a houshold with 4 boys is incredibly patient about this subject. In fact her biggest complaint is about our aim, So, to get the ball rolling on this, I have to share this great image sent to me by Marc Dussault.
Let me know what happens in your house, how the boys and girls deal with this topic of ups and downs!
The Plumbing industry has been very good to me and my family.
Every year around January we have anywhere between 5 and 20 boys (or their mothers) contact us looking for a plumbing apprenticeship. We have trained 9 apprentices in 20 years (plumbers apprenticeship is 4 years). (more…)
Julius Caesar had a weekend native-bashing excursion to Britain in 55 BC. But I guess he didn’t enjoy the damp boarding houses with their fierce landladies, for he quickly went back to Rome, naturally claiming a great victory. Almost a hundred years later the emperor Claudius sent a powerful invading army, and the Romans then occupied Britain for the next 350 years. What did those Romans ever do for us? (more…)
Prior to European settlement, the land between Bondi Beach and Rose Bay was a series of freshwater lagoons and sand dunes of varying heights. Some geologists believe that this long, low passage at some time allowed for sea access to Port Jackson at Rose Bay from Bondi – making South Head and the land around it an island.
Bondi’s freshwater lagoons were mainly seasonal, appearing and disappearing quickly depending on the rainfall. However, there were also large permanent lagoons whose banks were lined with Coastal Tea Trees (Leptospermum laevigatum) and Swamp She-oaks (Casuarina glauca).
The first written reference to these Bondi lagoons is on a map dated 1868, however, they would have been well known to the local Indigenous inhabitants as a good supply of fresh water and food much earlier than this.
The trees on the lagoons’ banks, with huge root systems reaching deep down into the sandy soil, turned the water rust brown and provided nutrients and shelter for fish and insects. Larger animals such as goannas, possums and wallabies would have drunk from this fresh water source.
A 1889 Water Board map shows specific locations for the lagoons:
- Near the corner of the present day Lamrock and Jaques Avenue
- Between Simpson Street and Hall Street across Wellington Street
- Between Warners Avenue, Blair Street and Beach Road
- Near Old South Head Road and Warners Avenue
- Between Hastings Parade and Wairoa Avenue
Artist Julian Ashton lived in the Waverley area and in his memoir, Now Came Still Evening On, he recalls the Bondi lagoons:
“Bondi when I came to live here was a great mass of sand hills with deep little pockets between filled with black water in which grew monster tea trees.
“They towered above, making a sort of shadow land, a delightful resting place from which one could look out upon the sun-scorched sand. I have often seen wild duck in these pools. One could walk across the hills and valleys or along the beaches for hours and not meet a soul.”
The lagoons are now long gone, the wild ducks have flown away and the 15 metre tea trees cut down. Sewer labourers began draining two large lagoons in North Bondi in the early 1880s when a trench was built through to Rose Bay. Later other ponds were drained to allow for roads to be built, land to be subdivided and for house construction.
Local historian John Ruffels suggests all is not lost though: “These days, in the area up from the old lagoon around Forest Knoll Avenue, on a still summer day the dappled shade from the Banksia trees and Swamp Oak trees continues to remind us of what it must have been like in the bush by the Bondi lagoon all those many years ago.”
Have you ever been caught short?
I mean, have you ever been “busting” to use the loo and it just wasn’t available, you were cross legged and tears are starting to run as you can only focus on one thing…….
Now most shopping centres have toilet facilities and the local football and netball fields usually have a loo that you can use after you have been sipping multiple latte’s whilst watching junior win “the match of the day”.
Whilst doing plumbing repairs on most homes we are often in the bathroom, so its a matter of closing the door, doing what needs to be done and breathing a sigh of relief.
Well it appears that “wanting to go”, at an inopportune time is quite common as I found when looking through the QandA with Lucy Macken in Sydney Morning Herald Domain section recently. August 20, 2011
Q&A: This question’s a wee bit awkward
Q. Forgive me for being blunt but is it ever OK to use the bathroom at an open inspection?
J.P., Crows Nest
A. Agents responded uniformly to this query with a moment of stunned silence. A few heartbeats later and the consensus tends to be that ”the facilities” (for want of a more abstract euphemism) are not for public use but permission is granted in the case of emergency.
Children seem to be the main beneficiaries of such largesse, although parents in the know have a few tips for regulars on the Saturday inspection circuit: make good use of the coffee shop breaks and if you get time between appointments, let your children visit the local park.
After all, no one wants their thoughtful assessment of a prospective home interrupted by a loud, ”Mum, there’s no toilet paper in here!” Thankfully, agents tend to be an accommodating and non-judgmental lot.
Defective toilet paper causes a $40,000 plumbing problem.
This blocked drain sounds like a job for The Lone Drainer And Pronto
According to the Denver Post, The University of Colorado is suing over ‘defective’ toilet paper that caused $US40,000 in plumbing fees over the past few years.
The incidents included toilets bubbling over, overflowing toilets, and toilets that simply wouldn’t flush and would cause some flooding and backed up drains. In one instance, the university had to saw-cut concrete and excavate sewer pipes in order to remove an auger from a sewer line that was so bound up and clogged with toilet paper that it became stuck. There were flooding issues in 27 buildings in the spring of 2009 alone. The lawsuit claims that ‘the toilet paper… failed to disperse properly and caused the toilets and sewer lines at the university to become clogged’.
Now the problem has been addressed, and the lawyers have begun clogging the pipelines of the legal system with their own paperwork. For plumbers, cleaning out blocked sewers comes with the territory. Dealing with lawyers, however, is something else.
Today at Global Headquarters for The Lone Drainer And Pronto, in Melody Street, Coogee we had an information session, jam packed with Questions and Answers about Taps, Toilets and Tree roots.
Although we weren’t quite turning local plumbing enthusiasts away from our rooms (wait till next time), those who came and participated in Dr Daves Tap Tutorial asked some very meaty questions about how their taps worked and how to fix them. They learned where to turn off their water main supply, their water heaters and gas supply meters.
We had a demonstration of a drainoscopy or how we use our drain camera to see what is going on in their sewer pipes and drains and how tree roots can damage even new PVC pipelines and we discussed the dangers of using flexible water connections, water hammer and the many ways it can present itself along with the operation of gas stoves and appliances.
Chris and I really enjoyed doing this presentation for you and hope you may tell your friends what you learned and tell them about our next presentation on the First Tuesday in May. Tuesday May 3rd 2011.
Now, The news that everyone wants to hear is, who Won A Years Supply of Toilet Paper?
Well, after putting your all names into my hat, I am happy to announce Gary is our winner.
CONGRATULATIONS GARY!
Think of us when as you enjoy your prize.
Please call our office on 02 9664 4990 to arrange a time drop in to our Headquarters and collect the first instalment of your prize. We can deliver the rest if it suits you!
We also gave 2 other very constructive participants a copy of “Whats My Pee Telling Me”
P.S. On the subject of toilets and toileting check out this and other interesting blog posts on our website http://thelonedrainerandpronto.com.au/blog/bidets/
One recurring topic of 2010 is the Ownership and liability of common water, sewer and gas pipes.
When we send out an emergency response team to a ruptured gas or water pipeline or an overflowing sewer, the first thing our team thinks about is rescuing the property under threat.
Often, it is after the emergency has passed, that ownership and liability of the problem are hotly debated.
This series of 3 blog posts is aimed at clarifying some of that debate.
Our friends at the Law Reform Commission have helped to clarify this interesting subject and in part it reads!
LIABILITY FOR COSTS
Role of the Water Board
An important and related issue that was raised in DP 22, in respect of utility services, is establishing liability for the repair and maintenance costs of common service pipes for individual users. The problem only really exists in respect of joint sewer services, because the Water Board will absorb the costs of repair and maintenance of water services (joint or single) within the areas of its operation.7 In those cases where the Board does not assume responsibility, it can still do the repair work itself and then issue notices for payment to the users of the service. The Water Board Act 1987 (NSW) does not contain any guidelines in respect of apportioning the costs of the work carried out.
The Water Board does not assume the same level of responsibility in respect of sewage services. A liability policy similar to the water supply policy (as discussed above) was considered for sewage services, but was rejected as too expensive. Where the Water Board is aware that work needs to be done on a joint sewer service, the Board will issue a defect notice requiring the users to repair the service within a certain period of time. Sometimes repair is ordered to take place within 24 hours, if the damaged service is deemed to be a health risk. It may also be the case that the users of that service realise that the service is in need of repair and attend to the repairs prior to receiving a notice from the Board.
Existing guidelines for apportioning costs
There are no guidelines to assist the owners in dividing the cost of repairs, although DP 22 argued that Regulation 9 of the Plumbing and Drainage Regulation (September 1989) could be interpreted as making owners jointly responsible for the maintenance of their water service pipe, sewer or storm water drain.8 Some users may argue that they were not responsible for any damage to the service and thus refuse to pay anything; other users may argue that the cost of repair should be divided equally, regardless of which users were directly affected, on the basis that the service is jointly owned; and others may consider the amount charged to be excessive and only wish to pay an amount they consider appropriate. Although a recommended rate may be obtained from the Master Plumbers Association, this rate is not a standard or enforceable rate and the final figure charged may be higher or lower depending on the circumstances.
In practice, one user (usually the person most affected by overflow from the blockage) often pays for the repairs and is then forced to seek contribution from the other users, and when payment is not forthcoming, he or she may be forced to litigate for the recovery of the money. Whilst a user may wish to claim equally against each of the other users of the service, it is difficult to prove what their contribution should be. A plumber may be retained to give expert advice about who or what caused the damage to the service. This lack of legislative direction stands in sharp contrast to the specific contributions that unit owners of a Strata Titles plan are required to provide by way of levy where maintenance and repair of the common property is necessary.
