Sewer clog hard - any advice before I dig

[personalt]

Few weeks ago I had a tenant go crazy with 'flushable wipes' and clog the sewer lateral. 3 hours with the drain snake I pulled out a half dozen wipes and then yelled at them. but from there everything was working good. This week - new clog. I came back with the snake - didnt hit any wipes but got out about 40 feet and hit a hard stop with the self feeder. I tried auto feed snake on that spot for 30 minutes and either there is bend/elbow/trap that snake cant navigate or something hard is stuck in pipe.

40' puts me right about the front of the house. There is no cleanout there. There is an air vent at front of house inside basement - it comes about 2 feet elbow through brike wall and goes out the front. Clog seems to be on street side of the air vent as water does back up in to air vent. I dont think air vent is 'on top of' the main sewer I think is next to it. I saw this because the first elbow off the air vent is toward the back of the house. ie it elbows toward the back of house and guessing then it elbows around 180 degrees to wye into the laterial two feet or so away.

Would you take any other steps after snaking for 30 minutes before busting concrete and digging a hole. I cant easily camera it from the laterial cleanout I have access to since pipe is drains so slow it is mostly filled with water. My plan right now is to dig where I think the laterial is near frot of house and cut it open. Plan B might be to go get the camera again and use it blind with the tracer to see if I can confirm laterial path but I feel I know where it is. I kind of feel like the concereted over the sewer lateral house trap. I assume even 100 years ago they had house trap with a cleanout?

Any other advice? If I try a drain bladder I would likely need to use two as I have two laterial branches - one from main stack and one from roof drain. That might be a hell mary if the issue is regular clog on street side of house trap.

 

[Twowaxhack]

I think I’d call a pro in before I broke concrete and dug the pipe up.

 

[personalt]

I think I’d call a pro in before I broke concrete and dug the pipe up.

That was my thought too. I called a plumber that I spent 25K+ with on a house I built and three that he recommended and four other local plumbers. None could get out for at least three weeks. It drains slow so I can sort of live with it but if there is a heavy rain or a couple of back to back showers and it will flood the basement or first floor bathroom. So I am kind of on my own. The question really is - what other steps might they try before opening things up.

Two questions
*It is typical to get hung up at the house trap with a snake or should I be able to push through/past it?
*Should I always have cleanout at the house trap?
*I find it suspect they is no cleanup for a house trap near the front. Typical setup in other houses in my town is the area of basement where the sewer exits house they dont concrete the floor and instead have an 'open'dirt pit with the clean outs. This house has that pit under the air vent but from what I see there is just an elbow facing to the house so my guess it maybe it has a long sweep 90 and a 45 to wye in to a lateral running near this but that part is just a guess.

 

[turdchaser2000]

That was my thought too. I called a plumber that I spent 25K+ with on a house I built and three that he recommended and four other local plumbers. None could get out for at least three weeks. It drains slow so I can sort of live with it but if there is a heavy rain or a couple of back to back showers and it will flood the basement or first floor bathroom. So I am kind of on my own. The question really is - what other steps might they try before opening things up.

Two questions
*It is typical to get hung up at the house trap with a snake or should I be able to push through/past it?
*Should I always have cleanout at the house trap?
*I find it suspect they is no cleanup for a house trap near the front. Typical setup in other houses in my town is the area of basement where the sewer exits house they dont concrete the floor and instead have an 'open'dirt pit with the clean outs. This house has that pit under the air vent but from what I see there is just an elbow facing to the house so my guess it maybe it has a long sweep 90 and a 45 to wye in to a lateral running near this but that part is just a guess.

Sounds to me like you are not getting past the trap. It is possible to get past just depends on the cable and cutter used. A trap leader could be helpful to get past the trap. Call a pro drain cleaner.