Aaron wrote:
I am on my 3rd plumber, and I think he is getting tired of coming over
to my house. First one was too expensive, second one did not have a
camera and after 3 visits gave up. The third one could not find my
sewer line so he had to start at the cleanout a dig it up. He found
that it went under an add on addition to my house. He replaced the
sewer line from the cleanout to the addon addition and then from the
addon to the street. He said it was clear under the house. Now it is
two weeks later and the bathroom is starting to back up again. The
only alternate route for the sewer line would be to break up my back
porch that runs between my house and detached garage.

Is there anything that can be inserted into the sewer line under the
house that will correct it. Somebody told my they thought that they
had seen on the show This Old House sticking an inflatable sleeve in
the sewer line and blowing it up to fix it. Has anyone heard of this
and where can I find out more about it? I need some ideas.

The old pipe was a 4" clay pipe and they replaced it with PVC. The
length under the house is probably about 25 feet and about 4 feet
under ground.

Wait. He said, "it was clear under the house."
Since he had it excavated right up to the house,
presumably he could be quite certain it was clear
under there. Eh?

So, what would be accomplished by "lining" the section
under the house?

I'm not just trying to be smart here. Looking for more
solid information so you can have some definite direction
to go in.


How long have you lived there? The house must be
about 50 years old, no?
The add-on was done before you bought the house?

Just one bath?
Does washing machine back up?
Did this problem begin very suddenly?
What else might have changed recently?
Could the problem be that there is insufficient slope
to the sewer line or that there is a belly/hump in the line?

Jim