lotr1978 wrote:

Hello

I have read the group under a search for slab plumbing problems and
found basically what I already knew. I would like to solicit some
addition advice from other unfortunates and/or experts.

I closed on a 2 year old house on July 15th, plumbinh problem was
immediate with a clogged downstairs toilet. This escalated in the
following manner: when doing wash, toilet fills with bubbles, when
doing wash, toilet gurgles, when doing wash toilet fills with bubbles
and tub fills with crap from drain (like sewage). All three are
downstairs and share a wall, meaning the back of the washing machine
sits against the wall that has the tub and toilet on the other side.

I call the plumber, he snakes the clean out, pressure blows the crap
out (this didnt fix the problem BTW). The plumber tells me he was
here twice in the last year and told the previous owner he has serious
plumbing problems. I know their is significant disclosure issues here
and I have already seen an attorney (but reallythe legal system is a
joke- he said it would cost me 10k to take this to court if I am
lucky, the seller is a licensed real estate broker in the state AND is
preparing to take the bar exam). The plumber told me that he has
previously diagnosed this problem as a problem with the way the fall
of the plumbing was set, basically the rear clean out has water
dripping out of it which should never happen.

I understand, if this plumber is correct, that they will have to cut
the floor, trench the slab, redo the plumbing, then redo all the
interior. The state plumbing inspector comes next week and another
plumbing contractoris coming monday to give a more firm diagnosis.

I have several questions:

1) Given what I have briefly described (sewage coming in through
drains, laking rear clean out) is there ANY hope that this is like a
beanie baby stuck in the front yard pipe that wasnt blown out by the
snaking?????

2) Assuming the plumbing is completely incorrect, what sort of costs
am I looking at here

3) Assuming the costs are what I think they are (15-20k) and that I
dont have it, cant use the toilets and owe 100k plus on the house, I
have seriously considered bankruptcy figuring I will NEVER be able to
sell a house with a slab that has been busted?

We are young, first home, and not to sound too melodramatic but
basically my familyis totaly crushed by this. We purchased a 2 year
old home to avoid this, 3 days ago we were in Home Depot shopping for
paint, now we want nothing to do with the place.

Any information would be most appreciated.

thanks

cms
we had an under concrete slab house where the pipe broke( drain pipe..0
the insurance company paid $4,000 homeowners insurance, and i had to
come up with $600..... that was to fix the drain.. it was though that a
broken pipe hanger let the pipe fall down... the insurance comp. told me
that they dont pay for the soil going down and the pipe breaking, but i
did not have any pipe hangers..... they still paid for the digging at
$115 per foot under the slab to find out if it was the broken pipe
hanger or not...... that might be your problem, broken drain pipe and
the drain is blocked by mud that is being sucked into the drain and the
crap and other stuff is going out the tub.. one way to find out is to
hire a video camera plumbing guy(for $200 he came and put the end of the
snake down the drain-with the camera head on it and then went inside the
house with what looked like a metal detector-it was a receiver for the
head of the camera and he followed the pipes layout and knew where the
diggers had to go under the house... he wrote up an estimate and later
the real plumber came out and did the work..................