artificialj
New Member
So I bought a house about 8 months ago. Built in 1939 (in case it's important). Everything seemed fine with plumbing until about 2 weeks ago, when I discovered that the basement floor drain had overflowed. Everything from the first and second floors was coming up onto the basement floor.
I called a drain cleaning company, and someone came out and tried to snake the line without success. They told me to call the city, so I had a city guy come over and snake the line from the main cleanout in the central stack all the way to the street. He said that it felt really sludgy, but was able to get a little flow going. Was able to use shower and bathroom for about a week.
Then, on the 23rd, blockage returned, basement floor drain overflowed again. The city came back out and tried re-snaking without success. So they dug a hole in the street, saw no problem, and ran a camera up the line from the street to where the line hit my house. Completely clear, no roots, nothing. Problem seems to be in the house.
So on the 27th (after having no drainage for 4 days) I called a plumbing company who my neighbors recommended. They sent out some drain guys who worked for 6 hours trying to snake every possible entrance. They said that the only minor success they were having was by hose clamping a rag on the end of a snake and using it to ram the sludge out, but even so, only had very minor results.
They said that they think the line under my basement may have settled and is now running the wrong way, and that there is some serious sludge buildup that, although they can snake through, seems to close itself back up.
The only solutions they offered were water jetting the line, to clear out the current sludge, or digging up the basement and correcting the pipe that is sloped the wrong way. Either way seems fairly expensive.
If they water jet the line, won't it just get more sludge buildup in the future? Any idea on how long this temporary fix would last?
What if I just use some wingnut rubber caps on all the drains in the basement? Will the crap just come out upstairs? Or will the weight of the water force stuff to run uphill past the hump, and out into the sewers?
Please, I would love any advice. I feel sort of like my life is on hold, unable to even wash my hands without fear of it all ending up on the basement floor.
Thanks,
Jay
I called a drain cleaning company, and someone came out and tried to snake the line without success. They told me to call the city, so I had a city guy come over and snake the line from the main cleanout in the central stack all the way to the street. He said that it felt really sludgy, but was able to get a little flow going. Was able to use shower and bathroom for about a week.
Then, on the 23rd, blockage returned, basement floor drain overflowed again. The city came back out and tried re-snaking without success. So they dug a hole in the street, saw no problem, and ran a camera up the line from the street to where the line hit my house. Completely clear, no roots, nothing. Problem seems to be in the house.
So on the 27th (after having no drainage for 4 days) I called a plumbing company who my neighbors recommended. They sent out some drain guys who worked for 6 hours trying to snake every possible entrance. They said that the only minor success they were having was by hose clamping a rag on the end of a snake and using it to ram the sludge out, but even so, only had very minor results.
They said that they think the line under my basement may have settled and is now running the wrong way, and that there is some serious sludge buildup that, although they can snake through, seems to close itself back up.
The only solutions they offered were water jetting the line, to clear out the current sludge, or digging up the basement and correcting the pipe that is sloped the wrong way. Either way seems fairly expensive.
If they water jet the line, won't it just get more sludge buildup in the future? Any idea on how long this temporary fix would last?
What if I just use some wingnut rubber caps on all the drains in the basement? Will the crap just come out upstairs? Or will the weight of the water force stuff to run uphill past the hump, and out into the sewers?
Please, I would love any advice. I feel sort of like my life is on hold, unable to even wash my hands without fear of it all ending up on the basement floor.
Thanks,
Jay
