Neighbor's dirty water end up in my kitchen sink. Help!

[Girl1988]

Hi everybody,

My neighbor's kitchen sink and my kitchen sink are separated by a wall. Recently, I've noticed water goes down the drain slowly. When both of us turn on the water at the same time, my water wouldn't go down at all.

Worst, when my neighbor turns on the garbage disposal, the dirty water end up in my sink. It's kinda yucky, the smell and everything.

So, I went to Home Depot and bought a "snake" that came with an electrical drill. The package cost me $90. I guess my question is, can I go ahead and apply the snake? Or should I try something else?

Please advise. Thank you

[Redwood]

Well this is actually going to be good news for you!

Since this plumbing problem is shared between 2 different apartments or, units it is not your problem to deal with...

Obviously you are either in a rented apartment, or a condo and since the problem is shared between 2 units or, apartments blame cannot be assigned.

Whoever handles the property management for the building should be called and they will handle the problem for you.

Now if the situation is one where you are owners in a 2 unit townhouse and there is no complex agreement and property management obviously this would be a 50-50 split between you to fix....

If this is the case you may try the snake but it may not be as easy as it seems and if the pipes are configured in a back to back fashion it may be very difficult and the snake could come out in your neighbors apartment and break pipes under the sink.

[Girl1988]

Back-to-back pipe sucks! Is it possible to convert it to an independent pipe just for my unit? I don't want to have anything to do with my neighbor. I would rather pay extra money if it's possible.

[Redwood]

Probably not something you can easily accomplish...

In addition the lines are going to meet somewhere....
It's just a question of where....