well, eff! my pipes didnt survive the rotorooter-ing!
 

my friend calls these "renter moments" (when you wish you were renting)..anyways, plumber came and went. he took one look at my ancient pipes, and warned me..."this could get ugly"

my home's builder was a DIY guy. he cranked out 3 homes on my street. knowing what he knew at the time, he buried (backfilled it)the septic tank and took a brandnew sewer line to the fresh pipe in the street. he used this light metal pipe, that appears to be tar wrapped! my plumber says lots of older homes use this stuff, and it is dying fast. still it probably lasted 40 years. well, the rooter popped a hole in the pipe below the clean out. the clog is cleared, and the hole appears stable...but it looks like i'm about to start digging. the plumber told me, "never pay a plumber to dig"..so i will see how much i can get going tomorrow. we will stay at the MIL's for the week. i have a 60 foot trench to dig..by hand. the clean out is about 15" down, so hoping for a 2% run, the end of the trench cant be that deep.

my next thread may be about "day labor", and hiring them legit ;)

now i need to do some plumbing research. !!$#!$#!%

Rent at Terramite.

Terramite by TerraQuip

They're easy to use and rent for less than the cost of a chiropractor visit.

Or a walk behind ditch witch.

i dont have room. neighbor and i built a fence. ate up all the equipment space.

Rent one of the electric jack-hammer with a shovel spade on it. Guys used one to dig the foundation trench for a block wall I had put up. They went through that old hard ground like butter.

i would seriously reconsider using day labor. the deal is you hire them to do some work and all of the sudden you are on the hook for medical bills when they pop their back.

Why not fix the hole and leave the rest alone?

JR

Maybe the plastic liner route ??

Sewer History: Photos and Graphics

Orangeburgh. Ok for the time. Worn out now.

Just finished doing 40 feet by hand. You'll need a 4" wide flat blade for cutting the sod if you plan on putting it back in. Regular shovel, and a sharpshooter. Many of the new shovels have fiberglass or composite handles that you can really lean on. It would have taken me a month to complete had we not had record snowfalls this winter. That puts a damper on it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1269193107.jpg


That is the culprit pictured above. Huge root below forcing flow to the sides which were plugged with leaves as I'd left the covers on the cleanouts open to many times. Even where roots had not attacked the line forcing some sort of deformation the line itself was about 3 inche in diameter instead of the original 4.

The pvc you replace it with is cheap and easy to install. It is just that pesky digging.

Got a similar problem with clay pipes 15' down. The line runs behind the house and between two neighbors who are tied in as well. Roots are killing them. Have to shoot foaming root killer down them to keep them in check.

I don't mind apartment life so much some times...

Run sprinklers or soaker hoses over the area for as long as possible before you plan to start digging... softens up the ground.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1269195790.jpg

Your new friends should you do the job yourself. I should have also had a hatchet too. Roots really slow it down.

Most places want 50-70 dollars per foot.

You'll probably be glad if you have one more tool... a pickaxe.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1269197545.jpg

There are a coupla different styles... I'd probably choose this one with the lighter weight fiberglass handle and wider "spade."

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1269197373.jpg

http://www.benmeadows.com/search/158735/22817/158735/

50-70 per linear foot? damn.

orangeburg..i looked it up too. what were they thinking?

les...it took you more than a month?

I'm retired. I have all the time in the world I usually did 2ft per day. Why because if you keep your trench narrow enough unless you can use either hand with that sharpshooter there is some serious twisting motion going on. Facing forward if you are right handed the left side to center is easy. The right side a *****. I got so good with aiming that sharpshooter I could have shaved a fleas beard. What an amazing skill to aquire huh?


Heel N Toe I used a pick axe but if you hit that pipe you are going through it. I wasn't that good with it as opposed to the sharpshooter.


And get some good rubber boots. The soggier the soil the easier to dig. Albeit heavier but easier. Kind of a fine line but you figure it out pretty quickly.

What's a sharpshooter? Is that another name for a mattock?

60' long trench...Why not use a backhoe?

what's a mattock? same as a drain spade?