I've seen a lot of the same question on here but have yet to come across one that's on a city sewer line.
We bought our house Aug. 15th. Two weeks ago (2 weeks after moving in) I ran a load of laundry and the foulest water/sludge/disgustingness backed up out of the floor drain in the laundry room. I called our home warranty company and they sent someone out. After the guy came 4 hours late, stayed a total of 5 minutes (pulling out about 3 pieces of hair the size of a quarter), charged me $85 - it's back at it again. I've already called the home warranty people who will be out hopefully tomorrow and won't be paying for them to do it again.

We're on a slab foundation with city sewer. The guy that came out two weeks ago snaked out the floor drain. Shouldn't he be going through the laundry tub? Perhaps he should try that pipe thingy on the roof. I'm clueless on this kind of stuff. The house is about 50 years old. What could be the issue? The laundry tub? The whole plumbing system? The kitchen makes gurgling noises when this happens and backed up the first time it happened, as well. We really can't use anything water related in the house until it's fixed, as once it does the initial backing up onto my floor, it backs up every time we do anything. Help!
Signed,
Stinky, thirsty and naked in Michigan, hehe.

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Originally Posted by nikki1983

I've seen a lot of the same question on here but have yet to come across one that's on a city sewer line.
We bought our house Aug. 15th. Two weeks ago (2 weeks after moving in) I ran a load of laundry and the foulest water/sludge/disgustingness backed up out of the floor drain in the laundry room. I called our home warranty company and they sent someone out. After the guy came 4 hours late, stayed a total of 5 minutes (pulling out about 3 pieces of hair the size of a quarter), charged me $85 - it's back at it again. I've already called the home warranty people who will be out hopefully tomorrow and won't be paying for them to do it again.

We're on a slab foundation with city sewer. The guy that came out two weeks ago snaked out the floor drain. Shouldn't he be going through the laundry tub? Perhaps he should try that pipe thingy on the roof. I'm clueless on this kind of stuff. The house is about 50 years old. What could be the issue? The laundry tub? The whole plumbing system? The kitchen makes gurgling noises when this happens and backed up the first time it happened, as well. We really can't use anything water related in the house until it's fixed, as once it does the initial backing up onto my floor, it backs up every time we do anything. Help!
Signed,
Stinky, thirsty and naked in Michigan, hehe.

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Hey Nikki,

Stinky, thirsty and naked, huh? Sounds like last nights date! LOL!
I live on the West of Florida where all our houses are "slab houses" and my home was built in 1955 also.
We do not snake out drains from inside the house if we can help it. Too messy and you can't be sure you got the clog.
Your man should have gone up on the roof and ran his cable down the washer vent stack. What he did was go through the floor drain trap but failed to put out enough cable to reach the blockage. I would request a different plumber and hopefully this time he'll do it right. Good luck, Tom

Thanks so much for the quick response, Tom. I'll definitely ask about the washer vent stack.
My father in law came by the last time it happened and mentioned that they may go down this pipe on the roof. Is that the washer vent stack? And if so, how does that work? This pipe is on the northwest corner of the house and the laundry room is on the eastern middle. Is it just all connected? Does the washer vent stack make it easier to get to the clog?

Thanks again,
Nikki

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Originally Posted by nikki1983

Thanks so much for the quick response, Tom. I'll definitely ask about the washer vent stack.
My father in law came by the last time it happened and mentioned that they may go down this pipe on the roof. Is that the washer vent stack? And if so, how does that work? This pipe is on the northwest corner of the house and the laundry room is on the eastern middle. Is it just all connected? Does the washer vent stack make it easier to get to the clog?

Thanks again,
Nikki

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Hi Nikki,
"so, how does that work? This pipe is on the northwest corner of the house and the laundry room is on the eastern middle. Is it just all connected? Does the washer vent stack make it easier to get to the clog?"

The job just got a little more difficult. If all you have is the one pipe coming out the roof then the rest of the vents are tied together in the attic to one main vent exiting the roof. This is called reventing.
Rule of thumb tells us that you snake the vent of the fixture that backed up. The clog is downstream of that fixture. But since the floor drain doesn't have its own vent the only way to get to the clog is through the washer/laundry tray vent. Since this vent revents back in the attic we cut into the vent we wish to snake and after we clear the line we couple it all back together. That's the only way to be sure you're snaking the branch and not just the main. In my estimation going down the floor drain is doing it the hard way , have to fight the return bend in the "P" trap and keep fighting that bend with every inch of cable you put out. From the washer vent you have a clear shot at both the branch and the main.
If you went down the main vent coming out the roof you would be snaking the main but not the branch. That's why I say the attic vent's the only way to go. Good luck with the next plumber. Regards, Tom

Gah! Sounds extremely complicated. Couldn't he just snake out the laundry tub where the washing machine empties? Seems logical anyway.

I guess I'll leave it to the plumber and hope we get a different one who knows what he's doing this time. I'm getting sick of cleaning up sewer sludge. *PUKE*

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Originally Posted by nikki1983

Gah! Sounds extremely complicated. Couldn't he just snake out the laundry tub where the washing machine empties? Seems logical anyway.

I guess I'll leave it to the plumber and hope we get a different one who knows what he's doing this time. I'm getting sick of cleaning up sewer sludge. *PUKE*

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Goodmorning Nikki,

You asked,"Couldn't he just snake out the laundry tub where the washing machine empties?"
The problem with that is that about 5 feet in he would hit a sanitary tee and the snake would hit a dead end. It could turn up the vent stack, (wrong way) or down but he wouldn't know which way. Also, if he went in from the trap he would be fighting two sharp turns without knowing which way the snake is headed.
No, the best and surest is to open up the laundry tray vent in the attic and snake from there. The next best thing would to go back to the floor drain and snake through the trap but put out enough cable to reach the blockage which the last man failed to do. You say he brought back 3 pieces of hair but your blockage consists of fiber mixed with grease from the soap. To test his work before he leaves have him cycle two loads of washer discharge down the drain to see if it will carry the discharge without backing up. I wouldn't let him leave without this test. Regards, Tom

Hi,
I was about to post my question when I noticed this one. My basement drain backs up too, stinking water with black "bits". It happens mostly when my kitchen sink is full after rinsing dishes and then I run the disposal to drain it. It happens worse when I do that while the clothes washer is running.
Our house is 30 years old and we run on city water and drain system too, no septic or well. It never backs up too bad, but I'm afraid one of these days it will flood the basement. My husband thinks we should hire a plumber to run an auger from the drain to the main line, but I think that would be a mess, not to mention expensive. Any thoughts?

Frankiechester

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Originally Posted by frankiechester

Hi,
I was about to post my question when I noticed this one. My basement drain backs up too, stinking water with black "bits". It happens mostly when my kitchen sink is full after rinsing dishes and then I run the disposal to drain it. It happens worse when I do that while the clothes washer is running.
Our house is 30 years old and we run on city water and drain system too, no septic or well. It never backs up too bad, but I'm afraid one of these days it will flood the basement. My husband thinks we should hire a plumber to run an auger from the drain to the main line, but I think that would be a mess, not to mention expensive. Any thoughts?

Frankiechester

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Hey Frankie,

My thoughts are that you have a partial clog and partial clogs never heal themselves, they will only get worse.
You don't snake from the drain, you snake from either the kitchen sink vent or the washer vent, whichever is closest to the exit point of the house sewer. I have a hunch that in addition you may have to snake out the kitchen sink laterial,( the horizontal drain in the wall) as well. Good luck, Tom

Thanks Tom, I'll pass this on to my husband and I'll let you know how it turns out.
Frankie :)