On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:18:08 -0600, Reed wrote:

mm wrote:
What should my friend do next?

You've written about this before, but I can't find it, and I think I
have an added question anyhow.

My friend's basement toilet overflowed when his wife did the laundry.

I was over that night and I remember what someone wrote here, so I had
someone flush the toilet upstairs while I watched the toilet
downstairs. The water in the basement toilet moved noticably.

Today my friend had the plumber come over. He routed or whatever the
drain to the street. After he used the first claw, he put on a bigger
claw and put 100 feet of cable into the drain, so that he was all the
way out to the city sewer, he said.

He says that my friend needs a new drain, from the house to the
street, that the current one terra cotta and it must have broken and
there must be water in a low spot of the drain.

What should my friend do next?

What should my friend do next.
sounds like he needs to have a video inspection of the line to confirm
the blockage

That's a good idea. If the blockage is only water, at a low spot in
the line, is that enough to make the toilet back up?

I remember someone here talking about a clogged air vent to the roof.
Could that be responsible for all this?**

Also, I remember now that one or more people has recommended sewer
pipe relining. The webpages are very encouraging. Does anyone have
anything bad or good to say about that. It's supposed to be a lot
cheaper and just as good or better.

I goolged and found webpages, but so far nothing in or just outside of
Baltimore. Is there any chance it's illegal in some counties?




**I told my friend in advance that a clogged vent can be a problem but
when he recited what the plumber had done, he didn't mention it and
then he had to get off the phone, because his wife had cataract
surgery today. (It went well, but still she needs attention.)