"JohnDoe" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 23:50:53 GMT, "LB in StL"
wrote:

Putting in a new sewer line is not an option with us. We would have to
tear
up the street as our line runs under it to the main on the opposite side
of
the street. The estimate to do that is between $15,000 and $20,000. The
street would have to be torn up and repaired as part of fixing our line.
Also, the sewer main runs under the front yard of neighbors across the
street. And, yes you need permission from them before anything can be
done.

usually if your sewer line passes through someone else's property you
would have an easement for access to the line, of course you'd have to
restore the property after the work but you might not need permission.

The person who told us that we would need permission from the people across
the street before we could do anything on their property was the Chief
Engineer for the city in which we live. If we had large breaks or
structural problems, the city would have helped with the cost of fixing our
line. But, since we only had places where thin hair roots were growing in
at seams of the pipes, if we wanted to do any digging or replacing of the
sewer line, it was totally our responsibility as far as paying for it. I
specifically asked (before we knew exactly what the problem was) that if
digging was necessary at the point where our line met the sewer main line -
the location of the meeting of these lines being in the middle of the yard
across the street - if we would need permission from the neighbors. The
City Engineer said that we definitely needed their permission before we
could do anything. He said if they did not agree, we could not do
anything. It seemed very weird to us at the time. But that is what we were
told.