So we have this pipe problem…
Your main is usually located under the house. The bathrooms then drain to the main. The kitchen drain in our house connects with a 2″ pipe that is connected to a drain in our basement walkout. This spring that drain began backing up. This either indicates an issue with the main or possible pipe clog. Yesterday they came out and used a ‘snake’ to get through the blockage… something other plumbers and roto-rooter were unable to initially do. The guy yesterday had more experience with clearing these problems… especially those with damaged pipes. He ran the snake in reverse as he pushed it through the clay that had blocked the pipe and made it passed the bad part on the pipe.
He was fairly certain there was a break in the pipe. The reason we knew there was a huge problem was when I cleaned it out on Monday and then ran the dishwasher and the sink as I rinsed… it backed up in that walkout drain.
So today they are going to shove a camera up the pipe and determine the exact problem. The toilets function fine and there was no other evidence of backup in the main so the problem is very localized. It is a lot more expensive than a main backup… as that usually just needs cleaning… but at least we know what it is now.
And to our chagrin–Golden Valley passed a law in February that says if you’re going to sell you now have to have your house certified for sewer and drain. Meaning if you don’t pass… you don’t sell.
I’d like to personally give the previous owners a piece of my mind. But they live in New Mexico now.
They stuck us with some serious issues here. Our fireplaces don’t work. We had them cleaned and inspected after we moved in only to find out the stacks were damaged to the point the heat tiles (shield) would not function to it’s full capacity and therefore we were told that we shouldn’t have fires until they were fixed. We’ve had estimates anywhere from $2K to $10K
The first summer we lived here we had issues with that drain… but we didn’t have as much rain or something. I kept it clean and even used my shop-vac to clean it out… thought nothing of it. However LAST year we had 2″ or more of what smelled like sewage…. I shoveled it out, tried drain cleaner and then called Roto-rooter That guy was not very helpful. He tried for an hour, charged me $165 and said he didn’t know what the issue was. This year it was the same scenario but this time I tried two different plumbers. The first guy (From ESP plumbing) was a rip off. Now we’ll probably have to have part of a pipe replaced.