Friday, April 29, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Laundry chute
I've lived in my house for over four years, and I've finally gotten around to getting the laundry chute unclogged. Up until now, I was content to use either a hamper or the bathroom floor as a place to store dirty laundry. I shined a flashlight down there and saw someone else's laundry from the distant past. This was going to be like an archeological dig. Instead of pickaxes and shovels, I had to use a wire hanger.
The first layer consists of washclothes. These may be mine from when I first moved in and didn't know that the chute was clogged.
The second layer consists of balled up paper, and a pair of extra-large Looney Tunes boxer shorts. Since I cannot recall entertaining any guests who would wear such a garment, I examined it more closely. I estimate that Looney Tunes Boxer Shorts Man lived in my house sometime during the late 20th Century.
The third layer was an even bigger surprise. There are at least two five pound barbell weights in my laundry chute. This means that there was someone at my house once who thought that dropping barbell weights down a laundry chute was a viable course of action. The weights are stuck about 6 feet down, so there has to been something wedged below them that has held them up for at least 15 years. I believe that Barbell Guy was the immediate predecessor of LTBS Man, since I didn't find any other clothes in the chute.
Since I am unable to remove the weights with the wire hanger, I believe that my next option is to attack the problem from the bottom end of the chute. My idea is to stick a plumbing snake up the chute, and see if I can pull it loose. This will be dangerous, since if I am successful, I will have at least ten pounds of plastic covered concrete fall two stories into my basement. I'm open to suggestions how to do this safely.
The first layer consists of washclothes. These may be mine from when I first moved in and didn't know that the chute was clogged.
The second layer consists of balled up paper, and a pair of extra-large Looney Tunes boxer shorts. Since I cannot recall entertaining any guests who would wear such a garment, I examined it more closely. I estimate that Looney Tunes Boxer Shorts Man lived in my house sometime during the late 20th Century.
The third layer was an even bigger surprise. There are at least two five pound barbell weights in my laundry chute. This means that there was someone at my house once who thought that dropping barbell weights down a laundry chute was a viable course of action. The weights are stuck about 6 feet down, so there has to been something wedged below them that has held them up for at least 15 years. I believe that Barbell Guy was the immediate predecessor of LTBS Man, since I didn't find any other clothes in the chute.
Since I am unable to remove the weights with the wire hanger, I believe that my next option is to attack the problem from the bottom end of the chute. My idea is to stick a plumbing snake up the chute, and see if I can pull it loose. This will be dangerous, since if I am successful, I will have at least ten pounds of plastic covered concrete fall two stories into my basement. I'm open to suggestions how to do this safely.
Friday, April 22, 2011
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