I own a home built in the 30's. My entire drainage system has been sluggish for about a month. Now it's totally backed up into the toilets and bathtubs. I snaked the line from the septic tank towards the house, then a bunch of sewage came along and drained into the tank. I thought the problem was solved. But my toilets and tubs were still clogged. Next, I snaked the main line from the farthest point back (upstream) from the septic tank with a 50' line, which was long enough to go past the section I rhad eached from the septic tank side. Just to be sure, I went back to the septic tank side to make sure it was all clear. This time the snake wouldn't go as far as it had originally, and I couldn't get it to budge. Everything in the house is still clogged. The pipes under the house are PVC (?) but the drain line to the septic tank is clay or ceramic with concrete mortar at the joints. I've uncovered the pipes and there are no breaks or collapsed sections. I'm assuming, then, that there's something stubborn in the line. Any ideas or suggestions? I'm going to replace the clay pipes soon, but need to take a shower today!

Sounds like you may have to replace that old clay, (terra cotta ) line sooner then you expected. The snake might have disturbed a section of terra cotta that was already broke and it collapsed blocking your sewer line with earth and preventing your snake from getting past it. For a permanent fix you'll have to replace the old line with PVC. Have you uncovered the entire clay line? If not, for a quick temporary fix run the cable out again until it hits the obstruction. Then mark the cable where it goes into the pipe by tying a string around it and take it outside and lay it along where the sewer line runs. That's where you begain to dig to locate the blockage. Once you have the old terra cotta exposed and removed you can then couple a piece of PVC to the open ends using neoprene couplings with hose clamps. But sooner or later you're going to hafta bite the bullet and replace the entire run. Good luck, Tom

Thanks for the reply, Speedball. The entire length of the clay line is uncovered and intact. I snaked the line again yesterday. It went all the way through to the septic tank. But when I ran water in the house, it didn't make it to the tank. Not even a trickle, as far as I can tell. The entire line is backed up again with two toilet flushes and a shower. What the heck??

I haven't mentioned that when the bathtub drains, it'll work for a short time, then the toilet begins to glug, glug, glug. I think the water in the bowl is sucked down a bit when this happens. Then it makes little soft "lapping" sounds for awhile. Can weather, barometric pressure, have anything to do with it? I know nothing about vents. Could this be a venting problem? If so, I don't have a clue how to fix it.

You have more then one problem. You have just told me that the vent for the bathroom is blocked causing suction to be placed on the traps and slowing down the flow rate. Also the fact that the sewer line's clear to the septic tank puts the blockage in the house main.
You're going to have to rent a sewer machine and snake from the bathroom vent all the way to the cleanout. Then run water to flush out the line. That should clear both the vent and the blockage problem. Let me know how you make out. Cheers, Tom

My basement floor drain backs up when large amounts of water drain (large bathtub or washing machine ) I have snaked up to 55 ft and romoves some roots but has not changed the backup problem when using above