First thanks for being here on the internet for people asking questions.

We have a custom built 1945 three flat garden basement apartment Brick, with apartment(front) directly above in the front of the house,(70 feet ) long full attic. and a apartment also on above ground level in rear. So its base apt front ,with full basemant rear ie laundry room heating rec room ect and above front half and rear half and attic above housing (storage) catch basin in rear of building outside . No power systems all gravity system, below ground piping to city sewer system. Basement apt. and front apts. are connected to one stack pipe and laundry and apt rear kitchen sink connected to another stack pipe . rear apt. has toliet and tub on oppisite side encluding a third stack vent for that system. Front apt and basement apt above and below each other are the same lay out , kitchen sink in the middle with bath room Toilet ,tub, sink ten feet away to the front. or right , problem is basement apt, has sewer gas coming out of wall from 1 1/2 dwv system of kitcken sink, both sinks have a histroy of clogging and filling the basement one up because they connected to same dwv line , Dwv line in basement apt kitchen sink 1 1/2 is running along gouged out concrete foundation to toilet stack AREA but is not connect to toilet stack as i removed water from toilet to listen for running water to this stack from kitchen sink and dont hear any,
so that means dwvc must be going to catch basin ???? No drawings on this house so iam up for grabs and how its put together. Is there normally a second 4 inch line under house taking kitchen sink water to the catch basin and using the same dwv system as the toilet stacks for venting ???. and being i have sewer gas comming out of wall (outside wall) does this mean i have pipes rotted or seperated at the joints to the dwv system to the catch basin??? that would mean tearing out the basment apt kitchen wall and cabinets to find out , so anyhelp and thought would be very helpful. I was looking on internat for layout info on common systems but couldnot find any i would think that this would be typical layout???? I dont see any water leaks or rotted piping i have many times rodded and plungered line only to get clogged again soon 2 months and sewer gas is getting worse. Bashed out part of the wall plaster 3 inches fron concrete foundation and found no rotted piping all visible piping is still sealed. We are very firmilure with grease going down the kitchen sink and freezing up as it hits the underground cold piping and causing blockage so we always drain our grease from cooking pans and freeze it and throw in the garabge but you never get it all no garbage disposials or dish washers either.
I also have a problem with flooring outside bathroom in hallway seems like rotted supports for oak flooring i wouldnt be suprised if this is tied together with possible broken piping from kitchen, but how??? System is all cast iron piping and iron pressure piping some copper replacments in other parts of house on pressure side. All kitchen sinks and baths are on outside walls.


Thanks Douglas Star393

speedball1

Hi Douglas,

You speak of being connected to city sewer but you also mention a "catch basin" do you mean a septic tank, grease trap, (that we used to discharge our kitchen sinks into in the 40's and 50's) or a storm water catch basin. Discribe it please and its function. If you're looking for a "Typical plumbing layout" on the internet you won't find one. The builder sends us plans and we design each installation individually. Condos and hi raises are the only exceptions. Without being there I would guess the kitchen sinks discharge into the catch basin and from there out to the sewer but that's only a guess. Regards, Tom

star393

Tom

Here in the city or suburban area all houses have a catch basin, some things are tied into it and somethings are not all raw sewage goes directly out the main to city, town, sewage system under the street No septic system around here untill you get 25 miles out farther then its mushy hold your nose land. Today i did a inspection of what does go there and what does not. The rear apt. kitchen sink runs to the catch basin the laundry room in rear basement goes to catch basin floor drains outside and in basement go to catch basin gutter water also . But front apt and basement kitchen sinks donot they must go to main under building. 6 inch main under building and 6 inch outlet from catch basin to street other end of main. 6 inch pipe from rear and basement kitchen sinks and 4 inch main from floor drains.
I have a rod out station i put in out front of the house going to street because of the tree roots. today i ran 2000 gallons of water thur the catch basin to get small pool ready for winter and clean out catch basin all working find i might add. So front apt and front basement apt must go to main from kitchen sinks . So kitchen sink piping to toilet stack 10 feet away must came apart en route to the stack or at the stack pipe (4 inch Cast iron piping) . Or rotted off. Clogging takes affect 3 gallons away from basement apt kitchen sink thats about 8 feet of 1 1/2 old dirty piping just before or at vertical stack (vent stack) to roof bottom side used by drains and toilets. I always thought that all kitchen sinks went to catch basin guess not here cost of piping in 1945 they must have started limiting use of the catch basin but for sure all lanudry rooms go there and in single family dwells all kitchen sinks also i just dont know when it comes to aptment buildings even as small as this one but long 70 long. This is a story and ahalf custom built brick three flat basicly for family.

Douglas

speedball1

Good morning Douglas,

Your "catch basin" qualifies as a grease trap in my book. Back when my house was built in the 50's all kitchen sinks and washers discharged first into the grease trap before exiting out into the sewage system. This prevented grease, garbage and fiber from entering the sewer system especially if the system had a septic tank and filter bed. cheers, Tom

star393

ok grease trap but larger ones called catch basins grease traps are basicly very small units external of all plumbing and usally under a sink mainly in businesses some very small ones are inside the buildings in the ground about 10 gallons or so. although these catch basins do the same thing in a reality they give them a diff. name when used in a residents. Most catch basins are 10 feet deep 3 1/2 feet id dia with a manhole cover over it on the out side of the house although they can wind up inside after people add on to there house in violation of code. What ever the size grease trap or catch basin although the wording does discribe its type of installation around here.

star393

Back to my orginal problem which is sewer gas comming out of the wall from this dwv system that must connect to the 4 " cast iron main vent stack i guess i have alot of walls to tear down because the 1 1/2 dwv piping must have rotted or torn apart from the 4 " system at the bathroom were it joins the the bathroom sewer system as this sink doesnt go to the catch basin grease trap it goes directly to the main via bathroom 10 feet away from kitchen sink I guess its camera time to really find out, as i do have a problem with kitchen flooring getting weak and hallway flooring outside bathroom going bad as batroom floor is concrete with ceramic tile so some of the water is spilling out of piping into building and running to flooring somehow.

Any thoughts on this problem

Douglas

speedball1

Since the kitchen flooring's getting weak why not take out a section and attempt to track the leak back. I had that happen to me,( 1954 house) and I located the leak in the sink lateral (horizontal ) drain in the wall off the trap.
The copper, (yours may be gakvanized) 1 1/2" drain had split and all the water I let go from the sink leaked out inside the wall and down to the floor.
Replacing the arm solved the problem. Regards, Tom

star393

how would sink above and sink below be piped into one outlet to 4" waste line from bathroom 1 1/2 black dwv piping used both sinks have to run to the right atleast 3 or 4 feet tee and then 2 to 3 ft to vent waste line ,
I knocked out afoot of plaster.line is buried into concrete cutout foundation behine wall before it can make the run for front to back clearance, no leaks noted around there. camera will only fit 3 or 4 inch line so thats out unless fiber optics types are used. i guess that moist concrete outside wall arouind piping promoted rott in this case, must be a big break to allow so much sewer gas to blow in wall and into house.


Douglas maybe some mirrors might help. and strong lighting.

speedball1

Hey Douglas,

Since the original drainage in your house was cast iron and ABS black plastic has been added I would take a close look at the connections where the cast iron converts to plastic. i would also inspect the cast iron pipe a lot more closely then I would the plastic pipes. Regards, Tom

star393

no plastic has been used i will need a camera to look into the wall before i bring out the axe and hammer. Any advice on type of camera??
Black pipe cast iron not black plastic. Douglas