Learning the hard way

Our weekend at the cabin was cut short by an apparent failure of the septic tank's drain fields. The septic tank was full of water, not just waste, as a result. This means that until we get the drain fields fixed somehow, water can't go down the drain into the septic tank because there's nowhere for the water to go. We learned this morning, the hard way, that showering in the lone functioning bathroom upstairs caused both the back bathroom and the new bathroom shower drains to back up and flood, and some of that water ended up in the new basement, too. Sigh. Our contractor came out to have a look and told us the drain fields were the problem. He's going to try to get the septic company to come out and take care of the problem, but no telling how long that'll take. In the meantime, we won't be going out to the cabin when we don't dare flush the toilets, take a shower, or do dishes or laundry. They're having a block party next weekend which we may have to miss - especially given the way gas prices keep going up, we don't feel like driving all that way for a party, just to turn around and go right back home again. We're crossing our fingers that they'll be able to get the drain fields fixed by the end of the week.

In other news, the sheetrock "mud" is done (covers the joints between slabs and the sheetrock nails) and has a coupla coats of primer on it. The utility room is mostly done, though the molding & baseboard got pretty dirty when they put it up and the molding around the window needs to be redone. (They used the old molding and neither cut it to size nor painted it. Looks really bad!)