Sewer line problem, replacement?

[jyl]

Sewerscope next Monday. Fingers crossed.

[rusnak]

The house hase a crawlspace underneath? Where is the point of connection? 25' in what direction? Your sewer is a bigger priority than the fence, trees, and walkway. If you can install a new line with a cleanout cover at the point where it bends 45 degrees, then that is what I'd do. But a straight shot under that sidewalk, and take out a tree or two might be the best option, depending on your point of connection. Any good plumbing co has a scope.

[bpu699]

Going through this right now...

Neighbor is having sewer problems, I am not. My line runs under his property, then another house, then the street...

All the other homes on the street connect directly to the sewer...

To fix it, the street needs to get ripped up, the yard, the basement, etc...

$8000 for the sewer work to the sidewalk
$2000-3000 for cement work
???cost to run to the house and connect...

$11,000 proposed to fix a problem I "don't" have...

If the neighbor fixes his sewer, and I don't, then I am disconnected. Code won't allow shared lines...

Argh... Money down the toilet...

[flyenby]

**** happens....Liners are great...if too many bends..I have seen them blow the liner from different sections of the line. They have been usings liners in Europe for quite a while.

[jyl]

House has a full basement, unfinished. Main stack is in basement, 25' further from the street than the corner of the house shown (in the second picture, if you go to the corner of the house, turn left, walk 25' through the foundation/basement walls, that's about the location).

The trees are important. The street is busy, and the trees provide a noise shield and privacy. Not having them would reduce my property value noticeably. So I'm very motivated to not damage them. Obviously sewage comes first but ideally both aims could be met.

[rusnak]

So you have a 50 foot trench or so, probably 12 feet down, straight shot. Maybe another 20-30 feet to the median, so 70 feet or so depending on what side the sewer main is on? That can be dug up in a day, boarded up, backfilled the next day past the sidewalk. I'd say if you can aim for the tree clearing, bring the sewer up inside the basement, then you're golden. Should not be too bad.

[johnsjmc]

You need a cleanout at every major bend in a sewer here. You might be better off to bust the unfinished basement floor and come 25 ft across it then under the wall to a trench to the street. You can probably dig a trench from there and only affect one maybe 2 trees. The city can put the new drain connection just about anywhere along the sewer.

[bpu699]

Originally Posted by bpu699

Going through this right now...

Neighbor is having sewer problems, I am not. My line runs under his property, then another house, then the street...

All the other homes on the street connect directly to the sewer...

To fix it, the street needs to get ripped up, the yard, the basement, etc...

$8000 for the sewer work to the sidewalk
$2000-3000 for cement work
???cost to run to the house and connect...

$11,000 proposed to fix a problem I "don't" have...

If the neighbor fixes his sewer, and I don't, then I am disconnected. Code won't allow shared lines...

Argh... Money down the toilet...

Update...just had the city council meeting and it was voted down... Oddly, the guy with the rported sewer issue never came to speak...

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by bpu699

Going through this right now...

Neighbor is having sewer problems, I am not. My line runs under his property, then another house, then the street...

All the other homes on the street connect directly to the sewer...

To fix it, the street needs to get ripped up, the yard, the basement, etc...

$8000 for the sewer work to the sidewalk
$2000-3000 for cement work
???cost to run to the house and connect...

$11,000 proposed to fix a problem I "don't" have...

If the neighbor fixes his sewer, and I don't, then I am disconnected. Code won't allow shared lines...

Argh... Money down the toilet...

It is a crappy situation......

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by VincentVega

I wouldnt want to pay a plumber to dig, rent a machine or hire a machine operator for that work.

Pop always said "Never pay a plumber to dig a hole."

[dan88911]

You maybe want them to use a transmitter with the camera so as know the present route on your sewer line.
https://www.google.com/search?q=sewer+line+transmitter&biw=1093&bih=493&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjYn9C9tYzMAhUTzmMKHRInBDoQ7AkISw

[Rusty Heap]

or buy your own scope for the price of a couple of margaritas and tacos.


10 meter length, 6 leds, USB port into a laptop for viewing.

$20.

A99 720P 2MP 6LED 8.0mm Lens Waterproof Android/PC Endoscope Inspection Borescope Tube USB Camera 2M/5M/10M Cable with Hook Magnet Side Mirror Sale - Banggood.com

[jyl]

Update.

Sewer scope guy comes out. Good guy. First thing he says is, he's not going to scope my system, because if he sees I'm the guest on a party line, he has to report it to the city. Instead, he suggests just scoping my neighbor's system. So the three of us are in my neighbor's basement, watching the image from the scope, at 130 feet which is well into the street.

Verdict: cast iron pipes under the house, 6" clay to the public sewer branch. The pipes are in great condition, no damage, cracks, breaks. At the joints where the street starts, there is a lot of root intrusion, solid mass of roots with just the 2-3" openings made by the RotoRooter crew. For $350, a local hydrocutter company can clear out all the root material, completely eliminate any future backing up issues. An annual application of Root-X will keep the roots from regrowing. No, none, zero reason to replace, reline, or otherwise repair the sewer system.

We saw the branch going off to my house. Yes, we are on a party line. Still a little unclear who is the host and who is the guest. The branch connection (the "Y") is on my property, he says, but the sewer enters the street a few feet on my neighbor's side of the property line.

So neighbor and I are both happy. We'll split the cost of the hydrocutter guy. My part of the system won't be hydrocut, but I think it's okay - the connection is pretty close to my house, this not that much clay pipe on my part, there are no trees there, and I've never had any backing up problems anyway. The main root intrusion issues appear to be downstream of the connection. The reason my neighbor has problems and I don't is that my house is higher than his, so when his nanny clogs up the party line with her wipes and tampons, the backup comes out in my neighbor's basement.

The only problem will be if RotoRooter reported the party line to the city, which they sometimes do in hopes of generating business. If we do have to bring both sewers up to code, it'll cost my neighbor about $3500-4000 and me about $9000-10000.

[jyl]

Another update, the final one I think.

So my neighbor and I have a hydrojet cutter company come out, to cut the roots from our shared line. The guy sets his camera and hydrocutter up in my neighbor's basement, goes in the cleanout on the stack, and can't get the hydrocutter head past the "Y" in the line, there are too many turns in the line. So we got to my basement and spend an hour trying to get the cleanout plug removed. Huge pipe wrench. Sledge. PB Blaster. Torch. Cold chisel. Finally I end up drilling a line of holes in the plug and he and I managed to cold chisel out the thick brass plug. He puts his camera down my line and sees cleanouts along the run. We go outside and he uses his detector gadget to find my outside cleanout, which is buried under my side yard under a flagstone paver. Whew. Now with clear access, he videos my line all the way to the street.

Surprise.

I am not on a party line. I have my own line, mostly plastic, direct to the city line. I have no roots, no problems, nothing. I do not need a new sewer line or even a hydrojetting.

So, what is going on with my poor neighbor. The hydrojet guy talks with him. My neighbor has a "Y", it looks like he actually ties into another line, but it isn't my line. It isn't clear if there is another active line connected to that "Y" or if it is capped off. He has all the root problems earlier seen. His roots (no longer my roots!) cannot be accessed by the hydrojet head, because of all the bends in his line. So either he needs to get a cleanout installed in his yard, or they still need to figure out who he is connected to, if anyone, and find a cleanout on that line. The other line, if it is active, might belong to a second neighbor, we're not sure.

Anyway, it isn't my problem.

The hydrojet guy was on the job for 4 hours. Their charge is $260/hour, plus $170 for camera, plus $20 for truck roll. That's $1,240.

By now he and I have spent four hours working together, chatting about Porsches and VWs, my wife has been bringing us cookies and water, etc. He cuts the bill and charges me $435. I pay it, and am not going to ask my neighbor to pay his half, although he is willing to do so. I figure, he's got a bigger problem, I don't have a problem, so I'll do the neighborly thing.

I think my neighbor will be able to solve his sewage problem, maybe with the cooperation of the second neighbor. But I'm in the clear.

[dan88911]

Hooray! for you jyl.
I feel bad for your neighbor been there myself every other yr. with rooter rotor guy.
Of course no were near as bad as your neighbors sewer line.
Did the trenchless replacement 2yrs. ago.
All the best. Hope things work out for your neighbor.

[cstreit]

Great news. You're a stand-up guy.

[jyl]

I found the city website that shows the city sewer lines in the street. Then I found a way to make it show the individual houses' connections. Not sure how reliable this info is, I notice many houses have no connection shown, I imagine there are no records from when these houses were built 100 years ago (105 for mine) so the info gets updated only as work is reported to the city. But anyway it shows my house and my neighbor's house as each being connected directly, and separately from each other, to the city line. Kind of wish I'd found this website before, it might have made some of the troubleshooting more efficient.

[vash]

That scene in the Matrix where Neo is bending backwards dodging slo-mo bullets. You're "Neo"!

Nice dodge!!


Sent via Jedi mind trick.

[rusnak]

Nice move paying the scope guy. That was very classy.

The as-builts from turn of the 19th century might be, as expected, a bit unreliable.

[vash]

Just had potential sewer line scoped. Clean bill of health.

Very cool piece of equipment.


Sent via Jedi mind trick.