artworksmetal
Member
Well, I finally have an issue I think is worth posting here. My house is 10 years old; I've been here 5. Never had a plumbing issue until this week. The kitchen sink wouldn't drain. So I pulled the trap - clean. Damn!
Dumped a bottle of Drano down there. It drained, but failed the full sink test. Damn!
Went and bought a snake. Pushed all 25 ft down and it came out clean. Oh No!
The drain pipe from the kitchen runs the full 45 ft width of my house, most of it behind drywall in my garage. The whole thing stays in the rafters, so the slope is not too impressive. The part I can see looks almost pure horizontal:
Then I remembered the house shook a few month ago when this happened,
making the basement floor unlevel:
Sure enough, the pipe was sagging at that point. Little did I suspect it was from lbs of sludge. I cut into it there and found:
I pondered it for a while and decided the only thing to do was replace all that pipe. I cut it off where it disappeared into the wall, and it was still clogged. Stuck my wet-vac in there about a foot and sucked more out. Sensing it was clear, I pulled it out a little too eagerly, and got a chest full of pipe-puke.
Here's the final repair, with lot's of slope and a cleanout. I figure it had been collecting gunk for years, and the house settling just hastened the final blockage. There was about 20 feet of blocked pipe.
I never expected it a little clogged drain would turn into this.
Dumped a bottle of Drano down there. It drained, but failed the full sink test. Damn!
Went and bought a snake. Pushed all 25 ft down and it came out clean. Oh No!
The drain pipe from the kitchen runs the full 45 ft width of my house, most of it behind drywall in my garage. The whole thing stays in the rafters, so the slope is not too impressive. The part I can see looks almost pure horizontal:
Then I remembered the house shook a few month ago when this happened,
making the basement floor unlevel:
Sure enough, the pipe was sagging at that point. Little did I suspect it was from lbs of sludge. I cut into it there and found:
I pondered it for a while and decided the only thing to do was replace all that pipe. I cut it off where it disappeared into the wall, and it was still clogged. Stuck my wet-vac in there about a foot and sucked more out. Sensing it was clear, I pulled it out a little too eagerly, and got a chest full of pipe-puke.
Here's the final repair, with lot's of slope and a cleanout. I figure it had been collecting gunk for years, and the house settling just hastened the final blockage. There was about 20 feet of blocked pipe.
I never expected it a little clogged drain would turn into this.