We bought a HUD foreclosure with 3 toilets upstairs (2 back-to-back) and one downstairs (that one's on an ejector pump) About a week after we moved in, all the upstairs toilets clogged and the bottom one seems to work but sent bubbles up the line and made the tubs backup. So we called a Drain-cleaner and he ran a camera through our lines - said everything looked great (it's a 2006 house and was empty the past three years) and then he hit a wall about 5 feet out from the house heading to the city sewer. And then he couldn't find a clean-out. Suspected the sewer line had collapsed.
So we had a contractor come out, he dug up where the dead-end was and found a buried clean-out and that the sewer line had separated from the house as the dirt settled. He replaced everything and installed a new clean-out up top. He said the pipes weren't glued properly before and that he assumed the rest of the line out to the street would be the same but that as it was all downhill to the street and properly pea-graveled and that we should be fine.
All of that was done January 17th. Everything has been fine since then. And then Thursday morning (the 30th), the back-to-back toilets clogged. My husband plunged repeatedly but couldn't get them to work. Part of the trouble is when you plunge one, the water in the other seems to move, too. We called the camera-draincleaners and arranged for them to come out Friday morning. I did some googling at work and when I got home that evening, I put some Dawn dishsoap down the two toilets, let them sit about 15 minutes and then poured a bucket of barely-warm water in the toilets and they both flushed fine. We thought it was probably due to the flushable wipes my husband has been addicted to using and he finally agreed, no more using them. (they were cottonelle brand which Consumer Reports says do break up after several hours.) So I canceled the camera/drain guy.
Saturday, the doorbell rings and it's the contractor. He'd heard from the drain guy and was in the neighborhood so he wanted to check in. He was concerned it might be the sewer line, farther down where he didn't check them. I told him our theory about the wipes and he agreed that we should discontinue their use and told us to let him know if we have any further issues I thought that was pretty kind of him.
Then this morning the toilets clogged again. Plunging didn't fix anything. Pouring warm water and dishsoap didn't fix anything. A friend thinks there must be a problem where the two toilets connect so I went to town and bought a toilet-auger. Could only find the 3-ft kind which I'm not sure would be long enough but had to get something. When I got home I tried the buckets again and the toilets seem to be flushing just fine again so I never used it.
But now I'm really paranoid. What if the line is broken further down after all and the reason the toilets suddenly magically clear is the water dissipating outside? We've decided to only use one of the two toilets for a week or so and see if anything happens again. But should we call the camera guy to check the lines to be on the safe side? It's $200 for him to come out but maybe we should spend it for peace of mind? The 3rd toilet upstairs seems to work when the two are clogged but maybe that's just because it's on the other end of the house and we never use it so it's pipes aren't full?
I also noticed a little water on the cover of the ejector pump when I checked out the utility room downstairs this morning. The green light by the pump alarm was on so it looked like everything was functioning ok. But we've never even used that bathroom other than to test it. And water just sitting on top seems odd?
So we had a contractor come out, he dug up where the dead-end was and found a buried clean-out and that the sewer line had separated from the house as the dirt settled. He replaced everything and installed a new clean-out up top. He said the pipes weren't glued properly before and that he assumed the rest of the line out to the street would be the same but that as it was all downhill to the street and properly pea-graveled and that we should be fine.
All of that was done January 17th. Everything has been fine since then. And then Thursday morning (the 30th), the back-to-back toilets clogged. My husband plunged repeatedly but couldn't get them to work. Part of the trouble is when you plunge one, the water in the other seems to move, too. We called the camera-draincleaners and arranged for them to come out Friday morning. I did some googling at work and when I got home that evening, I put some Dawn dishsoap down the two toilets, let them sit about 15 minutes and then poured a bucket of barely-warm water in the toilets and they both flushed fine. We thought it was probably due to the flushable wipes my husband has been addicted to using and he finally agreed, no more using them. (they were cottonelle brand which Consumer Reports says do break up after several hours.) So I canceled the camera/drain guy.
Saturday, the doorbell rings and it's the contractor. He'd heard from the drain guy and was in the neighborhood so he wanted to check in. He was concerned it might be the sewer line, farther down where he didn't check them. I told him our theory about the wipes and he agreed that we should discontinue their use and told us to let him know if we have any further issues I thought that was pretty kind of him.
Then this morning the toilets clogged again. Plunging didn't fix anything. Pouring warm water and dishsoap didn't fix anything. A friend thinks there must be a problem where the two toilets connect so I went to town and bought a toilet-auger. Could only find the 3-ft kind which I'm not sure would be long enough but had to get something. When I got home I tried the buckets again and the toilets seem to be flushing just fine again so I never used it.
But now I'm really paranoid. What if the line is broken further down after all and the reason the toilets suddenly magically clear is the water dissipating outside? We've decided to only use one of the two toilets for a week or so and see if anything happens again. But should we call the camera guy to check the lines to be on the safe side? It's $200 for him to come out but maybe we should spend it for peace of mind? The 3rd toilet upstairs seems to work when the two are clogged but maybe that's just because it's on the other end of the house and we never use it so it's pipes aren't full?
I also noticed a little water on the cover of the ejector pump when I checked out the utility room downstairs this morning. The green light by the pump alarm was on so it looked like everything was functioning ok. But we've never even used that bathroom other than to test it. And water just sitting on top seems odd?
