Sludge in kitchen sink and water not draining from dishwasher

[Michelle5678]

Hi,

We just moved into our "new" house last week. Upon moving in I noticed a very unpleasant odor coming from the disposal. The house is 40 years old and the disposal was extremely old. So we replaced the disposal yesterday.

This morning I put some leftovers down the disposal and then ran the dishwasher (for the first time since replacing the disposal). A little while later I walked into the kitchen and noticed bits of broken up food (from when I last ran the disposal) and sludge. Disgusting, disgusting, smelly, black sludge. (The sink is divided with the disposal on the left....the backup was coming up on the right).

Also, when I opened up the dishwasher the water had not drained properly.

Any ideas about what it could be? After all the expenses of moving, I am hesitant to call a plumber.

Thanks so much!! Michelle

[pushkins]

Just as a note :...You did remember to remove the little plug thats in the new disposal unit where the dishwasher connects to before you connected the dishwasher ...right and you did find and throw away the little plug after you knocked it out ?...you'd be surprised how many times I've had to deal with that scenario.
Sometimes the P trap under the sink gets all full of crappy stuff (especially if the disposal has not been working well, remove the P trap and clean it out, while it is out look back down the line under your sink and make sure that the line isn't all clogged up, if it is try to remove as much as you can, reconnect the trap and flush with clean water.

[Redwood]

Sounds like your sink line is clogged and yes I'd recommend having a pro do it...

[Michelle5678]

Thanks so much for the comments and suggestions. Yes, we did remove the disposal plug- made that mistake in the last house when replacing the disposal!

My husband was able to clear the clog by covering both sink openings and filling both sinks with water (the sink is divided). He then pulled the plug on the sink that was clogged. And then plunged it very aggressively for several minutes. And it worked! Hooray! The water goes down the sink easily now and the dishwasher drains properly.

Thanks so much again,
Michelle