Gone with the Rant

[Ontarkie 14,488]

They weren't very helpful or clear just said they can't get the snake or camera past this one turn. They said something is going on there but not sure what. Pretty useless guys all they wanted to do was put in a whole new line. They told me that maybe a private plumber would fix that one spot but that is not what they do.

[SAT 9,609]

I buy this insurance

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/service_line_protection/index.shtml

They weren't very helpful or clear just said they can't get the snake or camera past this one turn. They said something is going on there but not sure what. Pretty useless guys all they wanted to do was put in a whole new line. They told me that maybe a private plumber would fix that one spot but that is not what they do.

What do they charge for a new sewer main over there?

[Ontarkie 14,488]

They have that insurance here too but it won't cover under the house and that is where the start of our problem is.

We were quoted about 5500 that is with ripping up the road.

[SAT 9,609]

5500 isn't bad. And you can do the inside yourself? Splice an external pipe above ground under the crawl space, have it go into the ground closer to the foundation wall, connect it back to the main.

Edited February 2, 2015 by SAT

[Ontarkie 14,488]

We should be able to do the inside our self that part looks easy.

[SAT 9,609]

Ok, so why don't you do that. Bypass the entire section from where the main enters the ground, to the foundation. That might even fix your problem for good, without having to replace the section from the foundation wall to the street.

[NikLR 13,232]

Nik, the clog is in your main. If you're talking about the basement shower, I hope you don't have a collapsed main (inside main or outside main). Draino is not going to help. Neither is a plunger.

A 40 year old house may have a galvanized pipe for a main on the inside of the house. They're the worst.

No it's a new main. 2007.

We have special clean out valves outside for it too.

[Ontarkie 14,488]

We can't do that. They can't find the pipe outside of the house. It's somewhere in the back yard but not where they thought it would be. They already tore up the spot where it looked like it went too.

[SAT 9,609]

No it's a new main. 2007.

We have special clean out valves outside for it too.

So where's the clog?

[Ontarkie 14,488]

We can only find a small section of it under the house. We don't even have a clean out for the darn thing.

The part I want to cut and reattach like you said has to be done in a very small section before it goes under the retaining wall of the house and disappears. I'm hoping it fixes the problem long enough to be able to run a new line.

Edited February 2, 2015 by Ontarkie

[SAT 9,609]

We can't do that. They can't find the pipe outside of the house. It's somewhere in the back yard but not where they thought it would be. They already tore up the spot where it looked like it went too.

Get under the crawlspace, dig next to the vertical pipe that goes into the ground to determine how deep it goes before it turns horizontal, get a sense of the general direction of the travel of the horizontal underground. Now go the the exterior wall of the house, dig laterally, a trench, cover about 8 feet wide section of the wall. Dig to the depth of the horizontal pipe. That's how to find it. If it's a metal pipe, go borrow a metal detector.

[SAT 9,609]

No it's a new main. 2007.

We have special clean out valves outside for it too.

Niki, a 2007 main drain pipe does not require snaking. What exactly isn't draining in your house? Just that 1 shower? If so, do water back up through that drain when upstairs water is used?

[Ontarkie 14,488]

Oh we did that, the plumbers brought a small backhoe

They dug up all over where the pipe should of been.

The problem I think when they built the addition to this house.(they pretty much doubled the size) they built on top of it. With out ripping up the entire back yard we will not find where the stinking thing is.

[Ontarkie 14,488]

The pipe is right next to the foundation wall of the original house. That is where the problem is so far, they can't see if anything is going on further as they can't get past. We dug that pipe up can see it when you crawl to the addition side of the house and then followed it to the side leading out, that just so happens to be where they put the heat and a/c unit so we dug all around that cement slab hoping to find it. They dug down about 4 feet.

[SAT 9,609]

You don't have to dig up the whole back yard, just 1 long trench along the back wall, you'll come across the pipe......, there is another way, get a thin long steel rod (like a long rebar) and hammer it down every 4 inches width until you hit the pipe. But be careful not to break the pipe.

This is the "probing" method.