Apologies for the length of the email.
For about a year after we moved into a newly renovated house we've had persistent clogging / partial clogging of the toilet in our main floor (1st floor) powder room. The house was built in 1980. We tried plunging the toilet, snaking with a 3 foot snake and have had a number of plumbers in who tried snaking with longer snakes. One plumber suggested it might be the toilet that's an issue so we replaced the toilet with a good quality one from Kohler. For about 4 months we had no trouble flushing everything but about a week ago it started clogging again. We also noticed that the sink would fill when we ran it for a while.
Finally one plumber seemed to figure out (after two others weren't sure what was the problem) that the drain line was clogged beyond the toilet. However, not primarily dealing with drains he recommended we hire a drain company to snake the line with a long snake and do a camera inspection. After getting several quotes we selected one company that snaked the line and did a camera inspection.
We found 2 pieces of ceramic tile in the drain exiting from the powder room. The snake had successfully dislodged them from the elbow/connection between a vertical and horizontal section and pushed them further down to the main line (several feet away). The plumber recommended not to push them into the main line because then they could potentially start clogging it up. We agreed and asked what our options were. He said either to dig it out by removing the floor of our basement, cutting through the concrete and changing the pipe or using hydro-jetting (power flush he called it) to dislodge it into the sewer line and then into the city sewer. Both options are rather expensive (at least $1,500 plus tax) but we really wish to avoid the digging up option.
Do you think that hydro-jetting would successfully push these pieces of ceramic tile all the way to the city sewer line (one piece is about 2 inches in diameter, another maybe slightly bigger)? I spoke to a plumber at Mr. Rooter who came out to give me a call and he said that hydro jetting will not work. Therefore only option is to dig out starting at $2,600 + tax.
P.s. a third option suggested by the plumber who initially figured out that it was the drain line that was clogged said based on the position of the tile pieces we may be able to get away with leaving them as is as the branch is larger in diameter than the drain immediately leaving the toilet. Is this feasible? What are the risks other than another clog (since i will always have the option of doing hydro-jetting assuming it will work).
For about a year after we moved into a newly renovated house we've had persistent clogging / partial clogging of the toilet in our main floor (1st floor) powder room. The house was built in 1980. We tried plunging the toilet, snaking with a 3 foot snake and have had a number of plumbers in who tried snaking with longer snakes. One plumber suggested it might be the toilet that's an issue so we replaced the toilet with a good quality one from Kohler. For about 4 months we had no trouble flushing everything but about a week ago it started clogging again. We also noticed that the sink would fill when we ran it for a while.
Finally one plumber seemed to figure out (after two others weren't sure what was the problem) that the drain line was clogged beyond the toilet. However, not primarily dealing with drains he recommended we hire a drain company to snake the line with a long snake and do a camera inspection. After getting several quotes we selected one company that snaked the line and did a camera inspection.
We found 2 pieces of ceramic tile in the drain exiting from the powder room. The snake had successfully dislodged them from the elbow/connection between a vertical and horizontal section and pushed them further down to the main line (several feet away). The plumber recommended not to push them into the main line because then they could potentially start clogging it up. We agreed and asked what our options were. He said either to dig it out by removing the floor of our basement, cutting through the concrete and changing the pipe or using hydro-jetting (power flush he called it) to dislodge it into the sewer line and then into the city sewer. Both options are rather expensive (at least $1,500 plus tax) but we really wish to avoid the digging up option.
Do you think that hydro-jetting would successfully push these pieces of ceramic tile all the way to the city sewer line (one piece is about 2 inches in diameter, another maybe slightly bigger)? I spoke to a plumber at Mr. Rooter who came out to give me a call and he said that hydro jetting will not work. Therefore only option is to dig out starting at $2,600 + tax.
P.s. a third option suggested by the plumber who initially figured out that it was the drain line that was clogged said based on the position of the tile pieces we may be able to get away with leaving them as is as the branch is larger in diameter than the drain immediately leaving the toilet. Is this feasible? What are the risks other than another clog (since i will always have the option of doing hydro-jetting assuming it will work).
