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View Full Version : How to unclog a basement drain that goes outside?


mellowone
May 4, 2011, 04:59 PM
I can't find my outside pipe, had ageneral idea, but it has been mowed over by a nice neighbor with good intentions, always helpful, so now my basement drain won't drain. It is a pvc pipe. IS there a reasonable way to find it and open it up so should I have basement water it will drain?
Thanks Mellow

ballengerb1
May 4, 2011, 08:10 PM
There should be a clean out inisde or outside the foundation about 18" from the wall. Also look at your drain as it comes down into the basement or crawl, frequently there is a wye with a clean out.

mellowone
May 5, 2011, 05:20 AM
Thanks,but the floor drain disappears into the floor-no obvious pipe to show which is connected to the drain, and a clean-out?These pipes as I'm sure you know are all glued together. Does that have a certain look? I'm not a plumber so basically are you simply saying I need a plumber? The last time I had a plumber here was like taking my car to a garage.He was here for six minutes to fix a leak-sink washer- 95.00 and it started leaking again two months later. I'm so frustrated by this because I worry about dampness and mold starting again, although those good guys put in a new, not leaky water heater for which I am very thankful.
Well thanks anyway.

ma0641
May 5, 2011, 06:18 AM
The basement drain goes into, or should be, connected to the main drain. Is this the only pipe that backs up? Mowing over it didn't do anything, blockages come from inside the house. You can try to remove the screen cover of the floor drain and get a clean out auger at HD and work it through the drain. However, there is a trap somewhere and you may not be able to get through it. There should be an outside cleanout as noted by Ballengerb1.

mellowone
May 5, 2011, 06:55 AM
MAo641... The floor drain is flush with the concrete floor-it hasn't ever backed up, but wouldn't let the water out when my water tank crashed. Water just lay on the floor. I know I got abit of a shaft when the house was built as a few last minute things were done minutes before signing ppares-twenty-five years ago.
As far as the outside PVc pipe, I mention that only because I was told that was the pipe that any thing would come out of if water flooded into the basement. So okay getting a clean-out auger? At home depot could help-also about an outside clean-out? I don't have anything outside. I have two septic tanks which I also just found out has to be emptied(the builder added an extra one to fill space-now who ever does that has to dig way down and add a riser, 700.00 for all that-so, sorry to vent this, but I just want to prevent any more water damage from the inside out.Thanks for help too.