Washing machine drain backed up, so I decided to tackle that tonight. Our upstairs kitchen sink feeds straight down through the basement, where the washing machine drain taps into the drain pipe at a T. What a damn mess of cast iron and PVC and God only knows what else ... but Hey! Total repair cost: $10.68 for a 20'f drum auger at Lowes, and I used every last foot out of the reel.
I swear on my mother I will never, ever pour bacon grease down the kitchen sink 'just this one time, it'll flush with hot water!' again.
Oh, and when you're working downstream, I STRONGLY ADVISE you tell the wife not to run an upstream tap. Yuck!
Worst home repair job ever. Plumbing still reigns supreme.