Pipe lining help

[Cobbh84]

Alright just joined because im a diy’er and have come to a impass. I have a house built in the 40s i am having a drain issue backing up and flooding into my basement the house is half slab half basement. The drain for the middle 1st floor bathroom apparently has a leak somewhere so once it stops up and water rises above the main drain line height before the tub floods the water is finding a hole and going through the dirt over into the basement. I can unclog and it works for a few months until it backs up and does the same thing i have looked into pipe relining and cant find anything saying if there is a magical way to reline multiple fixtures that meet underground. My options are that if possible or i will have to bust up the slab the whole length of the house to run a new drain line or bust up just the bathroom floor and replumb all the drains to go to a new seperate septic tank installed on the side of the house that that bathroom is on. Or i guess turn it into a closet and build a new bathroom on the side of the house as in adding on $$$$. Any help or ideas would be appreciated thanks!!!

 

[Cobbh84]

Also to add i have researched the jetting devices and have had mixed input on if its ok to jet it with it being old cast iron. And also i did have a plumber help me with the issue a while back and he said my pipes looked really good to be that old so im thinking jetting wouldnt blow any holes and would probably be my cheapest clean the pipes out every so often fix. But i have read things sayin absolutely no jetting on old cast iron.

 

[Geofd]

I would snake your main flush it with water and have a reputable company camera the drain, that way you will see the condition,and have your plumber tell you what he sees

 

[Cobbh84]

I would snake your main flush it with water and have a reputable company camera the drain, that way you will see the condition,and have your plumber tell you what he sees

Thats what we did last time. My plumber said the pipes looked good for the age and put the camera through and snake. We found the clog to be feminine products and informed everyone those dont go down the drain. But it is already happening again about 4 months later. Is there an advantage over snaking than jetting it seems like what i have read that would clean it out better than snaking. Also the only line we couldnt get a camera through was the vent line so im assuming thats where the leak is just gotta find a way to camera it.

 

[Twowaxhack]

If snaking doesn’t help then try a rat. Get a rat as big as the drain and put him into the drain and cap the drain off. The rat will chew through the blockage.

I call it ratting and use it when snaking doesn’t work.

 

[Geofd]

Thats what we did last time. My plumber said the pipes looked good for the age and put the camera through and snake. We found the clog to be feminine products and informed everyone those dont go down the drain. But it is already happening again about 4 months later. Is there an advantage over snaking than jetting it seems like what i have read that would clean it out better than snaking. Also the only line we couldnt get a camera through was the vent line so im assuming thats where the leak is just gotta find a way to camera it.

Camera again,did the camera go under water at any point,how about roots ,does anyone flush wet wipes, paper towels, feminine products again????

 

[Cobbh84]

Camera again,did the camera go under water at any point,how about roots ,does anyone flush wet wipes, paper towels, feminine products again????

The camera didnt go underwater the pipes looked good we inspected every inch the plumber with camera is a life long friend that helps me out free of charge and 100% will cover my back even if i dont know any better and i have to force him to take money his father is a plumber in the area for the last 50 years and also double checks behind any work we do. There was 100% nothing but human matter or toilet paper down the drain. The house was self built in the 40s and then remodeled except for the drains in 2018. I am thinking there may be a rust flake that is catching things and backing up thats why i have mentioned jetting to blow a possible snag out. There is only one pipe that we couldnt get the camera in which is i assume the vent. Remember it was self built in the 40s so not for sure it was a vent could have been a fixture that has long been gone. The

 

[Cobbh84]

The camera didnt go underwater the pipes looked good we inspected every inch the plumber with camera is a life long friend that helps me out free of charge and 100% will cover my back even if i dont know any better and i have to force him to take money his father is a plumber in the area for the last 50 years and also double checks behind any work we do. There was 100% nothing but human matter or toilet paper down the drain. The house was self built in the 40s and then remodeled except for the drains in 2018. I am thinking there may be a rust flake that is catching things and backing up thats why i have mentioned jetting to blow a possible snag out. There is only one pipe that we couldnt get the camera in which is i assume the vent. Remember it was self built in the 40s so not for sure it was a vent could have been a fixture that has long been gone. The

The camera didnt go underwater the pipes looked good we inspected every inch the plumber with camera is a life long friend that helps me out free of charge and 100% will cover my back even if i dont know any better and i have to force him to take money his father is a plumber in the area for the last 50 years and also double checks behind any work we do. There was 100% nothing but human matter or toilet paper down the drain. The house was self built in the 40s and then remodeled except for the drains in 2018. I am thinking there may be a rust flake that is catching things and backing up thats why i have mentioned jetting to blow a possible snag out. There is only one pipe that we couldnt get the camera in which is i assume the vent. Remember it was self built in the 40s so not for sure it was a vent could have been a fixture that has long been gone. The

Im thinkin jetting would help but worried of the people i have seen sayin absolutely not since its old cast iron. And scared ill blow a hole and wind up with the house in a sink hole.

 

[Geofd]

You can jet, they can raise or lower the pressure in the jet,sounds like you friend is thorough,has anything change, a new toilet = lower flow????

 

[Cobbh84]

Jetted the line and now its draining properly we ran a camera again and pipes still look the same which is decent shape for being so old. We still havent been able to find the exact spot the water is escaping the pipes. Im sure eventually i will have to bust up the floor and replace everything and probably go to a new septic tank on that side the house or install a pump system to get it over to my septic system now. But thanks for the input!!

 

[Geofd]

Last thing you could do is put dye in the drain to see how much makes it to your septic system or it may show somewhere else

 

[pasadena_commut]

i have looked into pipe relining and cant find anything saying if there is a magical way to reline multiple fixtures that meet underground.

There are companies that specialize in relining pipes and presumably one of those can tell you specifically how they handle branches in the drain line. Personally I have only seen references to it, like here:

https://pipeliningsupply.com/branch-line-tie-ins/

We might have to deal with this problem ourselves some day, but probably not. All the drain pipes directly under the house are accessible, and could presumably be replaced from below if we had to, but once the drain passes through the foundation it forms a large Y in the front yard, with the branch point maybe 5 feet in from the curb, and probably still quite deep at that point. The junction isn't just a branch there, but consists of some sort of small rectangular concrete (?) chamber (seen once in a camera) to which the drain pipes are joined. The subterranean pipe is terra cotta, and used to have a big root intrusion problem, but thankfully they have been trouble free since the city let us remove the two huge trees in the front yard. Never saw a broken or even cracked pipe on those drain lines when they were scoped, so barring a really big earthquake odds are good that those pipes will outlast me, at which point, somebody else's problem!

 

[Geofd]

They send a cutting wheel in for the branches