Okay. Here's the deal. I live an about a 50 year old house, concrete slab, city sewer line, with two huge trees in my front yard. Recently when washing clothes in my washer I have noticed that detergent tinted water backs up into my main bathroom via the drain in the tub. Not only is it a little detergenty, but it also has what appears to be some kind of sediment? My bathtub has always drained a little slowly,. but this. I think I have three roof top vents on my roof. One is at the front of my house above my bathroom, and then I also have one above my kitchen and then one above my laundry room. I also have a little hole with a lid on top in my front yard that is directly above the pipe that drains my toilet out to the city line under the street. This seems to be flowing normally (like when the toilet is flushed). Would the washer drain through a separate pipe out to the street? Is my problem between my washer and bathtub or..

I just wanted to be thorough :) . Thanks for any help any one gives me.

Hey Jane,

Ya don't sound very average to me if your up on the roof snaking out a vent.
First of all you're going to hafta localize the problem. Inside drain or outside sewer line? To check this, locate and open up the cleanout outside your house . Now cycle a few loads of wash and watch the clean out. If water begans to back up problem's in the sewer line and the line should be snaked from there. If it backs up in the tub then get back on the roof and snake from the bathroom lavatory vent. Best of luck, Tom

Thank You, Tom.
Yea, I am just trying to keep up with all the other folks on this website. :)

One more thing please. So I shouldn't have to snake through the bathtub drain itself?

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Originally Posted by AverageJane

One more thing please. So i shouldn't have to snake through the bathtub drain itself?

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You can't snake a tub through the drain. You'll hit a dead end about 6" in when the snake hits the drainage tee. Besides the tub branch is clear or it wouldn't back up from the washer discharge. That indicates the blockage is downstream from it.
Better to snake from the lavatory roof vent. Happy snaking, Tom