We just got through a sewer backup fiasco.  Rules are the homeowner must first prove it's on county property before the county will do anything.  So I rented a power rodder and lugged the 150 pound beast down the stairs, into the basement and went to work.

It's been a long time since I smelled raw sewage.

I worked most of the day yesterday trying to break through the clog then I realized I had enough rod in there that I could prove the clog was past our property line.  The public works guy came over late yesterday afternoon and told me I needed to clear the line enough to drain the water out so they could scope it and decide if it was theirs to fix.  The fact I was 20' past the property line didn't matter.

So back to rodding and more raw sewage wafting up my nose.  At one point I barely noticed it.  I was getting used to it.

I couldn't get past the one point so I called the guy and he said let it drain overnight and they would be here today to do their thing.  I had done something because the water I shot in with a hose wasn't backing up.  I closed it up and took a shower.  I could still smell the sewage, even while showering.

Today they showed up but not until around 3PM.  They determined the problem was theirs and went to work outside.  At one point they used this huge vacuum machine and sucked out the water in every drain and toilet in the house!  And back up came the sewage smell.

Luckily it was warm enough to open the house up.  I even turned on the whole house fan.  I was also able to refill the toilets and p-traps and stop the smell.  I picked Julie up from the train and we went out to dinner.  I needed to be away from the house for a while.

When we got home the smell was gone.  While we chilled on the couch I smelled the sewage.  Julie smelled nothing.  I figured my brain wasn't letting go of it.  Later I'm lying in bed, trying to get to sleep.  The wind outside started to kick up and I heard things that worried me.  I think that whole experience left me a bit shell shocked.  Then I started to smell the sewage again.  Yuck!  So I got up.  Now I'm wide awake waiting for the next bout of the SEWER SMELL THAT WOULDN'T DIE!

Has anyone else ever been haunted by something like this?  It's kinda freaky.

oh thats gross! lol and really annoying too.  I have had that happen to me with bleach, after cleaning something and I kept smelling bleach and I was worried that i still had bleach somewhere, but realized it was just the scent still in my nose.

maybe you should clean with a bit of bleach, bleach smell is better then poo smell! lol or put a little bit of scented lotion under your nose, or perfume.

The problem isn't in my nose, it's in my brain!  I guess when I was right there, rodding out the line, and the smell was overpowering, my brain shut off the olfactory nerves so I wouldn't puke or something.  But instead of letting it go, it stored it in memory only to haunt me at a later undisclosed time and place.

Thankfully, I haven't had a relapse since last night.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

It's all mental I think. My mom only drinks bottled water because we need to change the filter from our fridge, according to her. I think the water tastes fine. She keeps complaining it tastes like rubber or metal or something. So, one day I grabbed a few of the water bottles, poured them out, and filled them back up with water from the fridge, as a prank. She drank a water bottle and when she finished I told her what I did. And she couldn't believe it. She kept thinking I was lying because she didn't even notice any difference. Ha!