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.

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

On Dec 2, 6:16�pm, Speedy Jim wrote:
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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

so has anyone run a camera thru the line? make a videotape of it while
your at it.

our home has tree root troubles, with repeated clogs. so i dissolve
rock salt in 25 pound bags perodically.

first you must find out why the line is clooging.

kids tossing debris down the toilet? tree roots? bad collapsed line
crushed etc

The house was moved to its current location in 1948. I am guessing
the add on was done in the 60s.

the plumber did run a camera under the house and he said it was clear,
but when he ran the camera the pipe was full of water so I am not sure
how much he could tell.

The plumbing problem was caused by some foundation work done on the
add-on part of the house. A pier was put to close to the pipe causing
it to calapse. The plumber fixed that part. It has a been a
nightmare because the foundation company did not know they hit the
sewer line and the sewer did not back up until a month after the
foundation work had been done. All the plumbers assumed that the
sewer line went from the cleanout directly to the street. The 3rd
plumber dug up the line and noticed it wrapped around the back of the
house under the add-on section and attached to the city sewer on a
side street since I live on a corner lot. This is when we found a
pier going through the sewer line. This is my only bathroom and the
kitchen and the washing machine attach to the pipe on the other side
of the add-on so they are not backing up.

I guess the first thing I need to do is have the plumber run the
camera again.

Aaron wrote:

The house was moved to its current location in 1948. I am guessing
the add on was done in the 60s.

the plumber did run a camera under the house and he said it was clear,
but when he ran the camera the pipe was full of water so I am not sure
how much he could tell.

The plumbing problem was caused by some foundation work done on the
add-on part of the house. A pier was put to close to the pipe causing
it to calapse. The plumber fixed that part. It has a been a
nightmare because the foundation company did not know they hit the
sewer line and the sewer did not back up until a month after the
foundation work had been done. All the plumbers assumed that the
sewer line went from the cleanout directly to the street. The 3rd
plumber dug up the line and noticed it wrapped around the back of the
house under the add-on section and attached to the city sewer on a
side street since I live on a corner lot. This is when we found a
pier going through the sewer line. This is my only bathroom and the
kitchen and the washing machine attach to the pipe on the other side
of the add-on so they are not backing up.

I guess the first thing I need to do is have the plumber run the
camera again.


A nightmare, indeed!

Curious, that the line was full of water when
he tried to run the camera. If we can assume that
the line from add-on to the street was not clogged,
this suggests that there is insufficient slope or
there is a belly in the line. It doesn't take much
of either to cause frequent clogging from TP, etc.

I have a suspicion that there isn't going to be
an easy answer to this one.

Jim