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Originally Posted by Milo Dolezal

Since his kitchen sink faces ex. wall, he can cut off drain above the plate. Cap off downward facing pipe and 45 upper stub out to the outside. Locate main drain and connect directly to the main. No concrete cutting, no pipe locating expenses, no mess all over the house, no Florida-size sink holes in the middle of the kitchen, no undermining foundations, no guess work. This way, job can be done in one day, no problem.

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The only problem I see with this approach is not knowing what other lines drain to this damaged area. The laundry and kitchen sink would bypass it but if another source drains through that location then the damage would continue to get worse.

I went to the city to enquire about obtaining a plumbing schematic for the home so I could at least have an illustration of what's going on under the slab but they do not keep those kinds of records on file from the 60s. They gave them to the original homeowner.

Sounds like milo may have the easiest, cheapest solution to your problem. One way to check if you have other drains tying in to the damaged area( if your laundry and kitchen sink back up rather quickly) then just run a whole lot of water down all fixtures and see if they back up, or see if you get any gurgling noises in you laundry and kitchen sinks. If you don't have any problems with other fixtures, you will most likely be just fine doing as milos recommended. Good luck and let us know what you find.

Sounds like I have some of the same problems. Just wanted to know if I am getting ripped off with this sewer lining. I just had sewer back up into the finished basement. What a mess. Lost everything. Plumber ran the video ($430.00) and the clay sewer drains in my 50 year old house have pulled apart and are offset and now let roots in. He said the answer is to line the sewer with epoxy ($13,500.00). I have not checked to see how much it would cost to dig up 75 feet of my yard and ruin the landscape, bushes, sidewalk.. etc. This seems like a lot of money to line a pipe. Any thoughts from someone that has had this done?

Greg, what city are you in ?

City usually doesn't keep plumbing blueprints - if there are any at all. They will tell you where City lateral enters your property and at what depth. That's just about it...

It definitely sounds like too much. It is cheaper to excavate it and replace it with ABS pipe. These days, it is kind of slow so I am sure you can get somebody cheaper to do the work. Sewer replacement is all about excavation. The actual plumbing work will not take more than 2 hours and material will cost you about $250. I believe you could have it done for 1/3 of the cost of relining. So, look around...

Also, relining is not suitable for every situation. So be careful before you sign up...

I hate to say it, but sometimes it is cheaper to have the main sewer line preventively, and professionally, snaked 2x a year rather than replacing it.

Good luck with your project... and come back to let us know what you decided to do... Milo

I live in Normal, IL. (Central Illinois)
This happened Friday, so cleanup was the first step. The insurance adjuster recomemded checking with digging it up. Like I mentioned, my landscaping, shrubs, sidewalk, lamp post, etc. will be ruined; which will cost me a lot to replace. I will call tomorrow to get an estimate on the digging. I thought the lining was very expensive. I thought it might be a couple of thousand, but not 13.5K.
I also have to check with the town because the plumber said I am responsible to the drain outlet; which is about 25 ft into the Cul de Sac to the manhole.
I need to find out from someone that had the lining done as to how much it cost.

Milo, I should add that I have two lines going into one. The main line that cloggs will cost $12,000 and to tie the two together it will cost $13,500. I have been cleaning them out and using copper sulfate, but did not do this spring since "I thought" there was enough water since we have had so much rain, I didn't think the roots would infiltrate the line. I was wrong.
This has been a terrible experince and I do not want to go through this again.

Greg: I don't know how it works in IL. But in So.California we are allowed to excavate only to the sidewalk. So cutting sidewalk or dealing with Lamp Post doesn't apply. Small sidewalks on your property can be undermined for new pipe.

In my area, if you want to dig past sidewalk, you have to use City approved contractors who carry $10 million bond and high liability insurance. They are extremely expensive. But I think you don't need these guys...

City runs its main lateral about 6' into your property. This lateral is oversized, usually 6" in diameter. Then, it reduces to 4" main that runs into your house. You should not mess with the City's 6" lateral. Just replace from that point on.

Relining doesn't work well if your existing sewer has LOW points in it. Relining will copy these low points. So, you will have new pipe with exactly the same problem. Watch the DVD of your video inspection carefully. Maybe, you should bring it to few other professionals for second, third, opinion. Ask lots of questions. Compute their input. Act accordingly..

On the sad note: I have to confirm that once you have roots in the sewer - you will never get them out. You have to replace.

Milo,
I also should have mentioned the lamp post and the side walk are mine, not the cities. The side walk is to my front door. There is no side walk around the Cul de Sac. I hope we have the same laws here and I wouldn't have to pay the entire length if dug up.
I did watch the video and there might be some low spots. The separtions start at about 50 ft and at about 65 ft there is a lip the video camera would not pass over. The plumber said that wasn't a problem.
Sorry for not including this before.
Thanks