Okay, let me tell you about the Brady Hole mess I got myself into yesterday. Thought it’d be a straightforward fix, ended up feeling like digging to China.
The Problem That Started It
Noticed the darn floor drain in the shop was backing up. Again. Just a trickle, nothing major, but enough to leave a wet spot. Figured there must be something stuck down there after all that rain we had.
Gearing Up Like I Knew What I Was Doing
Grabbed my usual suspects:
- The cheapo drain snake from the garage sale.
- A bucket for whatever gunk came up.
- My heavy-duty rubber gloves (learned that lesson already).
- A flashlight to see what the heck was going on down the pipe.
Looked like I had everything covered. Famous last words.
The ‘Easy’ Part That Wasn’t
Started cranking that snake down the drain. Hit something solid maybe three feet down. Okay, no biggie, that’s what it’s for, right? Started twisting harder, feeding more cable. Snag felt solid, like maybe a big clump of roots or something.
Managed to push past whatever it was. Felt a small give. “Gotcha!” thought I. Pulled the snake back up slowly, expecting a glorious victory haul of nasty goo or a tree root… and got nothing. Zip. Zero. Drain was still just trickling slow as ever. Felt totally useless.
Panic Sets In
Flushed some water down. Still just sat there, draining slower than a leaky faucet. This was worse than before! Ended up digging around the drain outside. Dug deep. Made a giant muddy hole trying to find the cleanout plug the house info said should be there. Couldn’t find jack.
Called Dave, who kinda knows plumbing. He said, “Sounds like the cleanout might be buried deep, could be a Brady Hole situation.” Huh? Had no clue what he meant.
Learning the Hard Way About Brady Holes
Turns out a ‘Brady Hole’ – at least according to Dave and my frantic phone googling later – isn’t some official thing. It’s more like a slang term guys use when a cleanout plug isn’t where it should be, or it’s buried deep underground behind something else. Like, real deep. Maybe it’s busted off or hidden under concrete or something.
Dave explained it usually means you gotta either dig like crazy to find it, or punch a dang hole through a wall or slab to get to the pipe upstream. Basically, a giant pain turning a small job into a nightmare. That was exactly where I was heading.
Giving Up (For Now)
I stared at this huge muddy hole and my useless pile of tools. Wasn’t equipped to start busting concrete or digging under the foundation slab. My shop floor drain project suddenly needed way more cash and muscle than I had that day.
Called it quits before I caused a flood. Mopped up the wet spot, left the hole unfilled ’cause I might need it again soon, and decided this Brady Hole wins round one. Needed bigger tools, maybe a pro quote. Boss wasn’t gonna like this.
Moral of the story: Sometimes that little trickle hides a whole world of hurt. And sometimes, just sometimes, you gotta admit when the hole is deeper than you are ready for.
