I would have thought the biggest draws on electricity would be heaters, heating coils, burners and things that produce heat or coil. Also, things that cycle on their own (whether via temperature change or lighting change).

A Kill-A-Watt in an instructive tool, but it doesn't do much for changing our energy-wasting lifestyle. I mean, just try to live without electricity... at every turn, you use it without thinking.

Look for hidden losses...wall wart converters, instant-on TV sets and monitors, and heaters and coolers that are fighting each other... like running a refridgerator in the uppermost floor of your house, or running a floor space heater in the basement...

I wouldn't worry about little things, like zenner light bulb indicator lights, but look for hidden transformers, incadescent light bulbs, and heating elements.

The answers here have covered the appliances and typical high draw demands of modern households. I have two additional thoughts.

I do not know this about Seattle City Light but in other places I have lived the local utility made moves to save money by cutting back on staff and so meter readings were made less frequently and the monthly bill generated by an algorithm based on typical past usage and recent history. This caused the need to periodically adjust the bill accordingly and so bill amounts fluctuated at times in puzzling ways.

You have made the effort to spot check electricity consumption around your home. I would suggest you start reading your meter on a daily basis. If you have never done this it takes some initial figuring out. If you can't discern whether the needle is just getting to a number or passing it look to the dial to its immediate right (on the initial reading you almost have to read left to right). Then on subsequent readings you can look at the last couple of dials to see the change.

If you get in the habit of doing this the same time each day (say as you leave for work, keep a pad of paper in your car to record it on) you will get a daily snapshot of the previous day's usage. This may help you to figure out what is happening.

This question hasn't gotten any love so I just wanted to throw out that electrostatic painting is a (literally) ancient technique that uses science to paint certain stuff perfectly and it's pretty cool.

I've never actually used it for anything large scale but I have seen it done small scale and the results were perfect.

Really simple explanation is your paint is positively charged and your object is negatively charged and the paint is attracted to it just like a magnet so you get results unlike doing things by hand.

If you have a kill-a-watt already, you're pretty far down the right path. FWIW I've had 3 of their power strip versions fail on me at work, so don't buy those, use the single-outlet ones.

I would definitely suggest flipping all your breakers and looking at your meter to see if anything is draining it. Not only that, especially if you lived in a shared building, do this at night and go walk around to see if any lights turned off. I did this once when I got a couple unexpectedly high power bills and found out I had 1 common light for the building on my power circuit for some reason and it was costing me $20/month.

John Bailo says look at bigger appliances, I say look at smaller things. Space heaters/fans, pretty much all electronics that are expected to pull over an amp of power, even things that plug in to charge can pull "vampire current" at full charge. Is someone leaving something on that isn't obvious and draws a fair amount of power like a PS3? Or a printer? My 5 year old $30 Brother laser printer pulls a ridiculous 1-2amps if I just leave it sitting on.

Overall I'd guess the simplest explanation is probably correct: SCL fucked up your billing and is slowly fixing it, and you're just using a little more power than you expected.

edit: SCL has a year of power usage history on their website last I looked.

I think you're doing some good analysis.

Checking the meter with the breakers off is a good idea...but how about checking it with the breakers on one at a time? Maybe you have a short somewhere that's draining current, or have added a device whose power pack is consuming the extra load.

The refrigerator, hot water heater tend to outweigh all other uses...any chance there is something wrong with them? Have you cleaned the coils lately, or is it old and needs defrosting?

One thing that PSE (my utility here in Kent) has is really nice web reports on energy usage. You can for instance track the year to year changes for each month and even track them against temperature changes. I assume you have done these analysis as well one way or the other.

This is why I love participating in QLand, your question sent me reading all about teardrop trailers - of which I was previously unaware.

The leak (technically speaking) is because of a failure of the creation of a complete seal of the hatch door. The funny thing about water is that it will flow through any opening (in this case a failure of closure or maybe even a wrinkle in the rubber seal) and can find its way along the internal structure as gravity takes it.

You observe the external cosmetic damage of some wood (and even perhaps you have some delamination of some paneling or plywood) but the actual structure of the door and kitchen area may not have significant damage. You do need to get it thoroughly dried out. The next concern is to figure out where the leak is actually occurring and get that weather seal complete and competent to stop water intrusion. Anyone that attempts to deconstruct the hatch door to replace wood would want to know how it was originally put together so I think a clear consultation with the builder and getting copies of the original plans for that area would be a good asset. I assume the reason you are not taking it back to the original maker is because of distance. I would hope they would stand behind their work and give you all the cooperation you need to get this corrected.

The actual work could be done by any skilled woodworker but if you want to track down a place specializing in travel trailer repair I would call up some local RV workshops and ask them. I did find this website ( http://www.teardrops.net ) that has a manufacturer's directory ( http://www.teardrops.net/mfgs.html ) with some listed in the Seattle and greater Washington area and they may provide you with some good references for local skilled and trustworthy repair people.

I'm jumping on the train a little late, but I had bedbugs for YEARS; they even followed me from one apartment to my new home. Over that period, I tried just about every company and every method professionally available, but a couple of months was the longest it ever was before I woke up with bloody sheets again.

Turns out the bastards were living in the jackets of the thousands of LPs on the shelves that cover two of my bedroom walls, so the heat treatment was out. But it's been almost exactly a year now since (with a friend's help) I tried a natural, nontoxic remedy that's kept me from any further problems.

It's called CedarCide Bed Bug Killer Spray (corny as hell, I know) (http://www.cedarcide.com/). Don't let the amateurish Web site put you off as it almost did me. In my case, what I had to do was remove all the records from all the shelves, then spray the stuff onto all the interior surfaces of them, focusing especially on the junctions of horizontal-to-vertical boards and the front surface of the shelving, as well as where they met the floor. In other words, I thought of every place they'd have to crawl over in order to get from the shelves to me and blasted the crap out of it.

The records went back in and, even in the cases where the shelving was still wet, there was no staining or damage of any kind. For good measure, I also filled little cups with the liquid and put them around the legs of the bed where they sat on the floor.

Predictably, CedarCide's spray has a very strong cedar smell, cedar oil being the active ingredient and all, but I found it more than tolerable, and it wasn't very noticeable anymore after about a week. Best of all, unlike all the other poisonous and environmentally hazardous stuff that had been used before, this posed no potential harm to me or my cat, and neither of us had to evacuate the home at all for any period.

As I said, it's a year later, and nothin'. I swear by this stuff. Four of the spray bottles linked below did the trick. Obviously, you have to know where the bugs are living in order to intercept their path to you, but if you can do that, you're home free. By the way, your finger might get a little tired of pulling the trigger on the spray bottle, but rest, switch it up, and get a friend to help; I can't imagine the infestation so serious that the fogger would be called for, though I imagine that, unfortunately, such places exist.

Here's the link straight to the specific product that worked for me; good luck!

http://www.cedarcidestore.com/catalog/item/3580888/3194699.htm

I've noticed a trend that owners/landlords are adopting - and I hate it, really, from a prospective renter's perspective - namely open houses. They aren't making appointments anymore to show the apartments, but rather saying, "I'll be showing the apartment from 12:00 to 3:00 on Thursday."

You get there, the place is filled with people and you can't really see it at all. I went to one or two in Vancouver that looked like a town hall meeting. In one, I saw somebody going through some of the current renter's personal things (the current resident was at work).

It was like "COME AND GET IT!" Horrible, but that's what happens when vacancy rates are very low. On the other hand, it usually gets the place rented (if you win the war) in one day or so - so the current resident isn't bothered continually.

Man, I wish I knew where to send you. I'd steer away from the big companies that offer maid services. I know two people who do this type of work, but neither is taking on new clients right now. I think a referral from a friend is going to be your best bet. Try asking around, everywhere. Good luck!

You have a basic right as a tenant to privacy and enjoyment of the premises you are renting - you're paying rent in exchange for the use of the property during this time. The landlord always has to get your consent before entering (unless it's an emergency) even if they give you 24 hours or more notice. You can't unreasonably withhold consent, but you can insist on reasonable times for the apartment to be available - entire days, and 48 hours in one week, is not reasonable. In this case the burden is on you to give verbal and written notice that you do not consent to the proposed schedule.

Here's the relevant section of Washington Law (RCW 59.18.150):

"(6) The landlord shall not abuse the right of access or use it to harass the tenant, and shall provide notice before entry as provided in this subsection. Except in the case of emergency or if it is impracticable to do so, the landlord shall give the tenant at least two days' written notice of his or her intent to enter and shall enter only at reasonable times. The notice must state the exact time and date or dates of entry or specify a period of time during that date or dates in which the entry will occur, in which case the notice must specify the earliest and latest possible times of entry. The notice must also specify the telephone number to which the tenant may communicate any objection or request to reschedule the entry. The tenant shall not unreasonably withhold consent to the landlord to enter the dwelling unit at a specified time where the landlord has given at least one day's notice of intent to enter to exhibit the dwelling unit to prospective or actual purchasers or tenants. A landlord shall not unreasonably interfere with a tenant's enjoyment of the rented dwelling unit by excessively exhibiting the dwelling unit."

Seattle Housing Code (SMC 22.206.180) states:

"A. Except as otherwise specifically required or allowed by this Code or by the Residential Landlord Tenant Act, chapter 59.18 RCW, it is unlawful for any owner to: [...]

"6. Enter a tenant's housing unit or premises except:

"a. At reasonable times with the tenant's consent, after giving the tenant: [...]

"(ii) at least one (1) day's notice for the purpose of exhibiting the dwelling unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workers or contractors..."

If you don't protest when the landlord gives you notice, I think legally you are giving consent. You need to write a polite but firm letter to your landlord, and send it by certified mail as soon as possible. Also email a copy with a note that you've mailed a letter if you have the email address, or call and tell the landlord that you find the times scheduled to be unreasonable and that you've sent a letter informing them that you do not consent to the current schedule. I think you can also give a copy in person to the landlord, but whatever you do send a copy by certified mail as proof.

The Tenants Union of Washington State has updated their site, and it includes this Information on Privacy Rights with a sample letter. You'll need to alter their sample for your situation; make sure you emphasize in the letter that having 48 hours of apartment tours a week is unreasonable, that it interferes with your enjoyment of the premises, and that you do not consent to the current schedule. Also cite the state and city laws - you don't have to, but it's a good idea.

I think it's good to be firm and cite as much of the relevant law that backs you up, but make it clear that you are willing to negotiate. You can propose times that you would consent to having the apartment available for viewing and/or you can say that you want to negotiate a mutually agreeable schedule. Whatever you and the landlord agree upon, make sure you still get written notice from them with the exact dates and times they will show the apartment.

You should also call the Seattle Department of Planning and Development - try the Code Violation Line: (206) 615-0808. They might contact the landlord on your behalf, but I think in this situation they can only give you advice. In the DPD's Information for Tenants publication (page 3) the section on Harassment states that you should call the police if the landlord tries to enter without your consent; I'm not clear on whether that applies after you've filed a complaint with DPD or just after you've given notice that you don't consent to the viewing schedule.This DPD memo on Seattle Property Owner and Tenant Rights and Responsibilities has pretty much the same info but includes a list of local organizations and resources at the end.

You probably don't want to start out by calling the cops, but you might want to mention in the letter you send to the landlord that you will be forced to call the police if they don't respect your rights and that you will follow up in small claims court. If your landlord is a complete asshole and enters your apartment without your consent after you contact them, you'll need to call the SPD non-emergency number: (206) 625-5011. That way you'll have official record of the violations.

Another option you may want to consider: you can allow the landlord to have entire days to show the apartment, as long as they compensate you financially. Pro-rate one day of your monthly rent, for example, or ask for whatever it would cost for you to work somewhere else for a day - whatever you think is worth you opening up the apartment. If you pursue this you'd want to get a signed contract in writing first - I don't know enough about contract law requirements, but it should have simple, clear terms about what access you are granting in exchange for what compensation, and probably be notarized or witnessed. The King County Law Library probably has some information that would help if you want to go this route.

On a related tangent, if you leave the apartment while the landlord is showing it, don't leave any valuables around - my friend had an ipod and some other stuff stolen when her landlord had an open house at the apartment she was moving out of.

Protosaurus has the right reference for the Registered Code of Washington, but be sure to read down to section 6:

(6) The landlord shall not abuse the right of access or use it to harass the tenant, and shall provide notice before entry as provided in this subsection. Except in the case of emergency or if it is impracticable to do so, the landlord shall give the tenant at least two days' written notice of his or her intent to enter and shall enter only at reasonable times. The notice must state the exact time and date or dates of entry or specify a period of time during that date or dates in which the entry will occur, in which case the notice must specify the earliest and latest possible times of entry. The notice must also specify the telephone number to which the tenant may communicate any objection or request to reschedule the entry. The tenant shall not unreasonably withhold consent to the landlord to enter the dwelling unit at a specified time where the landlord has given at least one day's notice of intent to enter to exhibit the dwelling unit to prospective or actual purchasers or tenants. A landlord shall not unreasonably interfere with a tenant's enjoyment of the rented dwelling unit by excessively exhibiting the dwelling unit.

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Summarizing this section:

You get two days written notice (except one day notice can suffice when specific time is defined when showing a property for sale or rental by future tenants).

Notice must state the exact times and date, but it appears that a range of time can be indicated as long as it is defined by earliest and latest time that the entry may occur.

It is true you may not unreasonably withhold consent to entry, but by the same token the landlord shall not unreasonably interfere with your right of enjoyment of your rented unit.

The landlord has to provide a telephone number where you can communicate any objections to the scheduled time. After you have notified the landlord as to the times to be rescheduled or not used.

----------------------------------------
What to do?

Express your need to have more well defined appointment times and not such broad ranges of time blocked out.

If the landlord is not working with you to better define the time, then I would suggest you call and "communicate any objection or request to reschedule the entry" for some of the times blocked out by the landlord. You will have to leave some time each day open so you are not being 'unreasonable'. Your landlord may finally get the idea to better define the appointment times and work with you.

If they come at other than defined times I would suggest you be ready to answer the door with your robe or towel wrapped around yourself and tell the people gathered outside that now is not a convenient time as you had already notified the landlord about previously. Make your statement and then close the door. Make sure you have a safety chain on the door so it can not be opened without you being right there.

You are not allowed to have your enjoyment of the rented unit withheld to you. Having the school banners you are painting, or other artwork, sewing project spread out on the floor, laundry hanging on racks, furniture to one side as you have just washed the floor, etc. making moving through the living space problematic could always present difficulty for the prospective buyer and still be seen as reasonable use and enjoyment of your unit. Cooking onions on the stove and other full use of space activities could be reasonable also.

----------------------------------------
I once arrived at my front door in my underwear one Monday morning with a baseball bat in my hand as the door swung open. I told the landlord's agent how close he came to having all the fingers of one hand broken as he grasped the door edge. He stated to me that all tenants had been notified in writing. I asked how and he said, "We put notices in your mailboxes yesterday." "How often do you check your mailbox on Sunday?" was my reply. I apologized to the somewhat shocked woman accompanying him and told them that the unit would be open when proper notice was given and shut the door on them. No doubt my crazed appearance gave them pause, but I never heard anything else about it and from then on the notices arrived in an appropriate manner and time.

All relevant state laws regarding landlord/tenants can be found here:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=59.18

I am not an expert but I think you're kinda fucked:

"The tenant shall not unreasonably withhold consent to the landlord to enter into the dwelling unit in order to ... exhibit the dwelling unit to prospective or actual purchasers ..." -- RCW 59.18.150

Although it sounds like your landlord is being pretty disrespectful of your time and the inconvenience it causes you to have the apartment shown.

Not sure if you have much legal ground here, especially if you're not in a current lease, so my advice is to just sit him down, explain your problems respectfully and clearly, and try to be adults before it all blows up into the kind of landlord drama you don't want.

Just a side comment.

A couple I respect, bought a house in a nice suburb when the owners were in distress. It wasn't completely clear, but it seems that there was some form of drug dealing going on in the past, because some strangers would show up over the next year, looking for the old owners/tenants.

When my friends moved in, they found numerous fist sized holes punched in the drywall that weren't there when they inspected the home. It was never clear if this was a drunken fight, anger release, or someone searching for a hollow space in a wall.

They drywalled up all the holes and refinished it nicely themselves, but they were always on their guard in their new home as a result.

The best course of action is likely to hire someone to write an offer and submit your offer to the owners for their consideration. If the home is "in bankruptcy" then the owner likely has an attorney who helped them file for bankruptcy who can assist them in reviewing your offer to purchase. That offer will be subject to both visual and professional inspection.

I caution that the amount you may be seeing online when you say to Myrna "and this place is a steal even if i bought it at the posted value." is not likely an indication of what it will sell for. If the home is not for sale, that is not an Asking Price or a "value". More likely it is the amount the owner is in arrears, and the house will sell for closer to Fair Market Value than the amount they are in arrears.

If the house is worth $500,000 as example and you are seeing $66,000 online...that is not a "value" nor is it any indication of the amount you might be able to buy it for. It is simply the recording of ongoing arrearage, over and above the original loan amount, that is being picked up by the website you are viewing.

If the price looks too good to be true...it likely isn't the amount you can pay to get it.

Often, but not always, selling it short is not better for the owner than letting it go through a foreclosure and/or Bankruptcy Sale. Consequently you want to be sure that you or your representative are not advising the owner as to what may or not be best for them. Just submit your offer.

If you are financing part of the purchase, and it sounds like you are, then you are likely better off buying it before the foreclosure as a Short Sale or after foreclosure as a Bank Owned home. But that is not necessarily better for the owner. So don't think you are helping them by getting what you want vs what may be best for them.

There is no "line" to get into. Simply hire someone to write an offer, that can be an agent or a lawyer, and have them present it to the owners for consideration. No house has to be "for sale" for you to do that, and many who have waited for it to be "for sale" have lost the house that way by waiting until the point of competitive bid.

Again I caution you not to "sell" your offer, or let someone who represents you "sell the offer", as best for the owner. Only someone who represents them, and that should be an attorney in this case, can tell the owner what may or may not be best for them. You stick to what is best for you, without risking misrepresenting what may or may not be be best for them. Many are erroneously doing this to owners, which is why I add that as a caution.

So, I'm not an expert, but I would say that getting attached to a house not-yet-in-foreclosure that still has people living in it is a bad idea, for lots of reasons, not least of which that the current tenants/owners may have more legal process up their sleeve than you'd think. Buying a house is already a HUGE commitment, and you're falling in love with a place that may have questionable infrastructure/history, be woefully undermaintained, and is probably still a year from being uninhabited.

That said, have you looked at other properties around? Do you know what the house is actually worth compared to others in the neighborhood? Does it meet your realistic needs? Have you done your homework on your own finances -- what you can afford, etc., etc?

Ok, if you've done all that, you might want to find a way to approach the owners about a short sale. If they're interested in selling, you'd give them an easy way to get out from their debt, and the bank wouldn't see the house as a total loss. You might not get it as cheap as at an auction, but the sooner a bank can find a better buyer, the happier they'll be.

For several years in my early 20's, I rented an amazing 5 bedroom place with 4 other folks. But our ages meant we were looking for a new roommate at least once a year (people fell in love, moved out of state for work, etc). I actually had the best success with roommates.com I just checked and the site is still in existence (as I haven't used it since 2005/2006). It allows you to write up a nice explanation of who you are, the vibe of the house, expectations of roommates, etc. And you can do some textual communication before meeting in person. We found it worth the $20 or whatever, rather than randomly listing on craigslist. We also once took out a classified ad in The Stranger, and that worked okay, too. But Roommates.com was the best and most consistent. Interestingly, it tended to draw people from out of state who were moving to the city. But as a true Seattle who loves her city and loves sharing info with folks (duh! I'm on Questionland, answering questions), I loved that.

Because there were so many of us, we just had our initial meetings (after talking by email and then by phone, which can help screen out undesirables) at our place. Some safety-minded folks might say you should have an in-person meeting at a neutral location before divulging your exact address. That is something you'll have to decide for yourself.

Be sure to write up some questions/discussion topics and general info, and then use this sheet in your meeting. Especially as it's not something you're excited about, having questions and topics already prepared will help you to get the most out of your conversation. Like dating, it can become pretty apparent whether there's a good fit or not right away. But having some "zany" questions ("if you were a non-human animal, what would you be and why?") can help. (Of course, if you are not in the least bit Zany and hate such questions, then try to find some other question that is a good clue into your lifestyle quirks).

Good luck!

Totally awkward but I checked out your website and oh man, your tzarina and the wolf is so amazing. I wish I could actually see it in Seattle. But I suspect it will be gone by the time I move back.

I do hope you find someone who works out for you. This will be my problem as well in a few years.

When I lived in a house with roommates we also posted notices at PCC and Madison Market; sometimes coffee shops have bulletin boards too. I don't remember if we ever found any roommates that way - it was pretty much all through Craigslist, and we went through a few in the three years I lived there, which meant weeding through a lot of responses.

There's also the ASUW Off-Campus Housing Affairs, which I used to find a studio when I went to UW. If you're interested, make sure you read their posting policy because they check for discriminatory wording: http://housing.asuw.org/system/resources/for-landlords/posting-policy/ (I had no idea "quiet" was considered discriminatory.) I can still log in with my UW id, and an ad for a room in a house posted on Feb 22 had 29 views as of today, Feb 25.

Do you have a lease? If not, I believe the landlord only has to give you 60 days written notice when the house is for sale, if the buyers don't want to rent the house. Or the buyers might jack up the rent and give you 60 days notice - they can raise it as high as they want as long as they give proper notice. This is apparently a common tactic used to get people to move out. Here's the DPD Information for Tenants if you don't already have it.

I'm wondering because if you want to stay, it might be hard to find a new roommate unless you specifically advertise as short-term or sublet. You might be able to get a student who's coming to Seattle for spring quarter, if you know that you'll be in the house that long (esp if the room is furnished). Or if you do have a hard time finding a new roommate, maybe ask the landlord to lower the rent to something you could pay yourself, and get it in writing; if they refuse, then you could give notice and find somewhere else to move. If the landlord needs the rental income while the house is for sale, they might lower the rent to keep you instead of trying to find new tenants.

I worked with a chef who said that fabric softener is made of some sort of oil, and it remains on your clothes. If you wash towels with it your towels won't be as absorbant because the oil will be repelling water.

Unless you have a septic tank, it makes no difference if you use chlorine bleach. It will be added and removed later anyway. Sewage treatment includes a final step that removes the chlorine that is added in that same process.

Fritz's Drain Service. He's awesome.

Stay clear of Mr. Rooter - bad! Bad! Bad!

Tenant Laws?!!

Gee whiz, where do you think you are?!

Har Har Hardi-Har Har!!!

Washington State is a Landlord's Paradise.

Any landlord can more or less torture tenants with impunity and then post a notice on their door if they are 3 days late because they made a check out that is wrong by 17 cents.

It sounds like you might be smelling crack smoke, which smells alot like burning plastic or lighter fluid.

If the odor is that strong and seeping into your apartment, you might feel light-headed and nauseous, which is cause for concern.

According to this article, meth labs can smell like ammonia or ether. There may be a foul odor similar to cat urine or rotting eggs. The odor of smoking meth depends on which impurities ended up in the product, but it could smell sweet. Here's more about spotting a meth lab: http://illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/methnet/recognizingmeth/outside.html

If you're smelling a mysterious gas in your apartment, the fire department should be able to help. A recurring smell of lighter fluid or gasoline is definitely cause for concern.

You're right to be concerned. Especially with the hazard of fumes and explosions, if you're right.

I hesitate to send you to the police, but you want wander into the desk sgt and inquire what it smells like. They should be able to give you a more clear picture.

Yikes. The gurgling sound is worrisome. It sounds like you're missing a trap (very seldom does the vent pipe plug...unless there were a bird nest or something). But it's more likely missing a trap or the trap isn't working properly (cracked, leaking, etc).

Do you use this shower? Try running water in the shower for about 5 minutes and then flush the toilet. If the trap is working, you won't hear a gurgling noise. If you DO hear a gurgling noise, then you'll probably need a plumber. Unfortunately removing the shower bottom and replacing/installing a trap is a pain in the butt procedure.

It's not super likely, but perhaps it's not a trap problem, and instead connected to some type of plugged drain (so you can try pouring some boiling water down the shower drain and use one of those plastic zip-strips to pull up any hair clogs). I don't really think that's the issue, but as those are both easy things to try, you might want to give it a shot.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that the snake is going to be any use in this situation, especially as you had the line video inspected and it was clear/in good shape.

Darn! If you get to the point of wanting/needing to hire a plumber, there are a few small local companies that I can highly recommend (the company I work for just focuses on rooting and repair of the pipes underground outside the house, not so much of the inside plumbing issues).

Full disclosure: I work for a great local family-owned sewer company (Aces Four Construction). We also provide rooter services. And if you call the office, you'll probably get to talk to me, and I'm nice *smile* Tom's correct about most of the rates being in the $160/hr range (Aces Four's is $150/hr. And if it can be done just using the small auger machine, we just charge the $95 for our service technician's time) (although I've heard some horror stories of other companies charging WAY more). I've given LOTS of information/tips on hiring contractors in this previous question (ways to check BBB, and the state, and other review sites) http://questionland.com/questions/22038-recommendations-on-a-skilled-and-affordable-plumber-this-would-be-for-a

Allow me to provide some guidance here, as well. Be wary of any company who isn't upfront about their rates. Be wary of giant "EMERGENCY SERVICE" signs, as these companies can be looking to prey upon your panic/need for an immediate resolution. Also note that companies offering evening or weekend service tend to be much more expensive than those of us doing the more standard 7am-5pm Mon-Fri thing (because overtime rates cost more). I've seen some companies that advertise "1st 15 minutes free" and not giving info on their further rates. This is shady, especially as it may honestly take more than 15 minutes to unload the van and set up the equipment. Most residential rooters take about an hour, so that's really the amount of time for which you should get a quote.

If it's just the tub that is slow draining, you may be able to clear it yourself *fingers crossed* The boiling water trick is a nice one to try, as is using one of those plastic zip-strips to get hair clogs. But sometimes it needs an auger or more powerful machine. And I want to echo Tom's advice to NOT use any of the corrosive "Liquid Plumber" type products. They rarely help the clog and they'll damage your pipes.

Is the tub the only place you're having an issue? If so, it's probably just a small clog, and you can maybe get it using the hand snakes that you can rent or purchase at Home Depot. Although you may still prefer to hire someone to just get it taken care of. If you're having other drain issues (like gurgling or a back-up in the lowest drains in the house (floor drain, basement shower drain, etc)), that can indicate a bigger issue in the sewer line underground outside your house. That's when you should for sure call someone with a big cutter/cleaning snake to help clear the blockage (most often invasive tree roots...searching for free nutrients and water in your sewage. It's a glamorous business I'm in!!)

Good luck!