Well, I borrowed one of those handheld snakes and it was too small and
too short to do anything (only 10ft long).

So I went and rented an electric snake....cool thing.
Although I could only use 40ft of it's 50ft length (was kinked), I was
able to relieve some of the jam in the laundry room drain.

I then ran the washing machine (on it's high water level) and I filled
the laundry tub too. I set both to drain at the same time and I watched
the water level in the floor drain.

The water was about 14inches down but didn't move when I had both the
tub and washer draining in to it.
I also took a bucket of water and dumped it directly in to the drain and
the level stayed the same!

So, I'm looking at all this as a good thing. BUT, should I be looking
at a backflow plug/valve?
The house isn't new, but is new to us (it's actually 30yrs old) and the
house inspector said all our downspouts go in to underground drains that
go to the street. I was up on the roof yesterday and cleaned the eaves
and they were full....
Do the downspout drains attach to the basement drain in the house? I'd
hope not, as I'm sure enough crud has gone down the eaves that it could
block up again.

Anyhow, we can at least do the wash without wearing rubber boots!

Steve Brady wrote:
Just moved in to a newly renovated house. All sorts of surprises!

The house has sat a few months before we moved in....

We did a load of wash last night and after it was done, we came in to
find some debris and wet spots around a floor drain that was near the
washer.

I then went ahead and partially filled the laundry tub (which the washer
drains in to) and then let out the plug....you could slowly see the
water come up the floor drain and out on to the floor.
Again, some more debris came with it.

I'm assuming we've got a clog in there. Is there something a DIY'er can
do? or do I have to pay the $'s for a plumber?
Hopefully we don't have roots in there, but I don't have enough
experience to say.

Thanks!
sb