Hello,

I am new to this, but have been reading questions and answers on the forum, and they seem to be very helpful.

So I have a problem I need help with.

I have a house that was built in '63. It's a ranch on a slab. It used to have a septic tank but in '68 was connected to city sewer. I have a sketch from the sewer department showing where the clean outs are suppose to be. I have measured, dug, measured, dug, and measured again, according to the sketch.

The house has an all season room on the back of the house as well.

Any ideas how far from the house the clean out should be, or how deep.

The sketch is absolutely useless.

Thanks in advance for any and all help

Plumbing code mandates that house cleanouts be located not over 18" off the foundation and brought up to grade. If you know where your septic is located simply probe next to the house to locate your clean out. Good luck, Tom

Thanks,

Do plumbing codes change through the years? Like would the plumbing code in 1968 be the same as today?

Post the sketch.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hkstroud

Post the sketch.

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I put it as an attachment. Not sure if that works or not.

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slakes

i put it as an attachment. not sure if that works or not.

thanks

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Its kind of hard to read

Its 48' from street to first clean out, and 11' ft from the corner of the house,

Then 21'from the septic line and 11'ft from the corner of the house to the other clean out.

Hi Slakes

No, codes have not changed in regards to cleanout locations!

The only cleanout that code would even address at your house would be the one Tom mentioned and it would be inside of the home or outside the home within 24" of the foundation. The cleanout should have been brought up to grade but may have been covered over.

I would look inside and then if nothing found under a stair well or up against the foundation, I'd get a probing stick and start poking around where you think the main drain leaves the building... should find it pretty fast!

The other cleanouts aren't usually required if the drain line doesn't exceed 75 feet, but if you have them and can find them then that would be nice, for sure!

Good luck!

Mark

Codes have also not changed that allow homeowners to do their own plumbing without pulling a plumbing permit,, aaaaah! So many homes don't have cleanouts where they are supposed to. I run into this all the time in older homes in my area. You can dig until your blue in the face, or have a camera with a locater run down your drain to see what is really there.

Why are you looking for the clean outs?

I wouldn't put too much faith in that drawing. It certainly does not look like something a plumber would have drawn up in 1968. Notice the nice rectangular box for the house, nice perpendicular lines, (different colors even) and the pretty red dots.
Also notice the different size type. (Plumbers can't type)

That's probably something that someone drew up on a computer when transitioning from a manual to an automated record keeping system. (Or more likely a computer generated drawing)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hkstroud

Why are you looking for the clean outs?

I wouldn't put to much faith in that drawing. It certainly does not look like something a plumber would have drawn up in 1968. Notice the nice rectangular box for the house, nice perpendicular lines, (different colors even) and the pretty red dots.
Also notice the different size type. (Plumbers can't type)

That's probably something that someone drew up on a computer when transitioning from a manual to an automated record keeping system. (Or more likely a computer generated drawing)

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I am looking for my cleanouts because I am having issues with backups in the shower, tub, toilets. Yes I figured the drawing wasn't accurate, however pretty it is. Plumber snaked from the inside and insists it needs snaked from the clean outs. Plumber wants $600 to dig hole to clean out. I am stubborn enough to dig my own hole, just finding the clean out is the issue.

Call a plumber with a line locator and have him mark the line for you.

I guess my point was that the clean outs don't exist. Location of the line probably is accurate.

Oh OK. Sorry, didn't catch the don't exist part.

Thanks for all your help.

If you can't find the cleanout, almost any sewer can be snaked from inside the home (by pulling a toilet and snaking from there) all the way out to the septic tank or city sewer. Heck, I would even haul my big ol sewer machine up onto the roof and snake from the three or four inch roof vent before I charged a customer 600 bucks to find a cleanout. However, if you are willing to dig it yourself, then you can dig anywhere right outside the home (as long as you know where the sewer line exits) and install a double cleanout (one going each direction) for future ease when it comes to augering the line. I just can't imagine why your plumber would say he can't snake it from inside the home. I run 120 feet of cable on a regular basis, and many times have gone back to the shop for another 60 foot when necessary. If the plumber you are using does not have the equiptment to run cable this far, try another company and see if they do. I know companys that won't put in over 90 foot of cable because it does work the machine pretty hard when you get way out there, and the chance of getting the cables stuck due to the machine not being able to turn cables when they get caught up increases greatly. But a plumber with the right machine and knowledge (or more experience) can run that sucker out there quite a stretch and bring it back every time. My furthest run to date is 255 feet, and that still didn't get to the clog. In that case, we dug in a couple cleanouts.