re: #79 stpaulbear

I just had a sewer guy come out to look at the portion of my sewer line that belongs to the city, just after it exits my property. There’s a partial blockage that he cleaned out enough so that I can function - if I don’t use too much TP.

The city doesn’t allow their sewer system to be repaired. I have to hire someone to replace it, give the city the bill, and then pay the city back either right away or over 10 years max at 5.5% interest. The work will cost in the neighborhood of $20,000 plus.

They’ll also have to dismantle the 5’ tall retaining wall along the property line (I sit way up above the street). I figure that will add another $5,000+ to the bill. There is only about four feet between my house and the property line, so it’s going to be a mess trying to find a route for the new sewer line, and there’s no way to reroute it inside the house. This is going to be awful.

The only remotely OK news about this is that I will be able to use money from my deferred comp retirement account to pay for this. It’s taxable, so I have to take out an extra 20% to pay taxes on the money, but it beats being stuck with a $2000/mo. bill from the city for ten years.

I’m retiring in less than a year. I can probably afford the hit to the retirement account (I’ve got a state pension + SS), but I’m probably going to have to get my car to last for another 10 years, and my safety cushion is now pretty much shot. This sucks. I feel like walking away from my house right now.

Down here we can’t flush toilet paper. Same in Athens Greece and other old cities. All toilet paper is put into a bin. There are no issues with smell or sanitation. FWIW. Also using single ply is a medium solution.