Hi All,

We moved into our new house only 2 months ago and this weekend we had sewage leaking up through the toilet and bathtub in our basement bath. We have a septic system. Of course I called a plumber right away and he ran a large snake into the drain from the septic tank. He only went about 15 feet before he hit the clog. Once cleared everything seems to work fine. My problem now is that I have a bath, two bedrooms, and a den area that all had varying degrees of sewage on the floor. Serv-Pro has given me an estimate of about $3000 to clean everything up. My insurance will cover this but I have a $1000 deductable. Needless to say, that hurts after just moving in. Not knowing what caused the clog (there was no visible material that drained into the septic after the clog was punched through) could it be a defect in building that caused this clog so soon after moving in? If so, I may be able to push the cost back to my builder. How could I prove it if it is? I'm just looking for a little advice as to what to do next.

Thanks,

Brian

PS sorry for the long post

" I called a plumber right away and he ran a large snake into the drain from the septic tank."
I hope you mean he went into the clean out and snaked to the septic tank and not back from the septic tank. It's not good plumbing practice to snake against the flow. If the plumber could tell you what caused the clog it would help. Look in your house warranty and see if you're covered. The problem here is that nobody knows what caused the clog. It could have been left by the last owner or it could have been caused by you or a member of your family. In short there's just not enough evidence to show it wasn't human error. Regards, Tom