So, I have a very old home (over 100 years) and just recently the drain in the basement floor has begun to back up. The washing machine is the only thing draining into this line, from what I was told by the house inspector. I ran my 20' hand snake down into it and pulled up all manner of interesting things, but I can still see standing water in the pipe. What would be the best course of action in this situation? Call a plumber? Are there any chemicals that would help?

I will be doing my laundry at a friends for awhile, it seems. Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated!

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Originally Posted by Ledgerman

So, I have a very old home (over 100 years) and just recently the drain in the basement floor has begun to back up. The washing machine is the only thing draining into this line, from what I was told by the house inspector. I ran my 20' hand snake down into it and pulled up all manner of interesting things, but I can still see standing water in the pipe. What would be the best course of action in this situation? Call a plumber? Are there any chemicals that would help?

I will be doing my laundry at a friends for awhile, it seems. Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated!

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When you say "standing water" I assume that you have opened up the house clean out. If that's correct then I need to know if you're on city sewer or a septic tank. Let me know, Tom

I'm on city water/sewer--not sure what you mean by 'house clean out', though. Since posting this, I've run 2 loads in the washer with no puddling or overflow; I'm thinking that the snaking I did solved the problem at least temporarily. I plan on either renting a power auger later this week to do a more thorough job, or using a drain cleaning service, depending on expense.

Thank you for your prompt response! If anything happens, I'll keep y'all posted...

The house clean out is a 4" brass cap over your sewer line. Glad you're draining OK. Hope all goes well. Good luck. Tom

And just a quick note here, Ledgerman... you should always see water standing in a floor drain as they are TRAPPED and that keeps water in the floor drain to keep sewer gasses from entering your home. ALL plumbing fixtures have either internal or external traps for this reason!

Good luck!

Mark