We are having major plumbing issues: ceiling was leaking under the toilet, toilet backing up into the tub, toilet blocks, tub gurlges when toilet flushes. Had a plumber out to fix it. Determined the problem was in the basement we he attempted to power wash and snake out the problem; he said there was nothing more that he could do and now we are having the same issues still.

How far did he attempt to snake it? TO the street or the septic tank? If he didn't then he didn't do everything he could do.

Well he snaked it from the basement to as far as his snake would go. He had said his snake broke and that he hit something completely solid.. now we have always had slow draining pipes however there has been an absurd amount of road work done by Aqua... do you think there is a possibility that they may have crushed the pipe to the street?

No telling what issues you have but the plumber issue can be solved with a better one. He QUIT before the job was done and that's simply unacceptable. His reasons don't matter.

He did not charge us anything for coming out to do what he did, but I mean I would think if I called a plumber for a plumbing issue he would have been able to fix something.

I'd call another plumber for a different company. I hope the broken snake was removed in its entirety... or you have a far bigger issue to deal with now. Any part left in the pipe probibly won't biodegrade in our lifetimes.

Hire another plumber, make sure its snaked all the way to the street. (I assume you don't have a septic system at this point) and maybe pay extra to have a camera run all the way to the street... anything you have going on can be visually verified, and exactly where and what the problem is. And I feel it would be money well spent.

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I'd call another plumber for a different company. I hope the broken snake was removed in its entirety... or you have a far bigger issue to deal with now. Any part left in the pipe probibly won't biodegrade in our lifetimes.

Hire another plumber, make sure its snaked all the way to the street. (I assume you don't have a septic system at this point) and maybe pay extra to have a camera run all the way to the street... anything you have going on can be visually verified, and exactly where and what the problem is. And I feel it would be money well spent.

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I had put a call into the Sewer Authority to ask them to check with Aqua if they may have crushed our pipe to the street... I even had my fiancé snake it with a 25ft snake and we are still not looking good.

That's great and more than fair he didn't charge you because he couldn't help, however you still need to call another one. Sorry for judging him so harshly, he tried. You got what you paid for and lost nothing but time.

You need the camera, and you need a written agreement that you own the DVD.
Because you may need that DVD to hold the city liable - what is showing on video, and the length from your house.
It could be a broken pipe, and the solid object he broke his snake on could be pieces of old cast iron (or newer plastic).

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That's great and more than fair he didn't charge you because he couldn't help, however you still need to call another one. Sorry for judging him so harshly, he tried. You got what you paid for and lost nothing but time.

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Not a problem I completely agree with you! And we will def consider calling another one.

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You need the camera, and you need a written agreement that you own the DVD.
Because you may need that DVD to hold the city liable - what is showing on video, and the length from your house.
It could be a broken pipe, and the solid object he broke his snake on could be pieces of old cast iron (or newer plastic).

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Where can I obtain one of those cameras? And what do you mean written agreement? Sorry-i don't know anything about this stuff.

Many plumbing contractors carry such equipment but be warned its rather expensive. Its generally a last resort after conventional means have been tried and failed.

Any thoughts on roto-rooter? I have called them for pricing and they are insane but I guess its justified at this point. Would they be able to get down to the problem?

Hi Gasabo

You said that the ceiling was leaking under the toilet. To me, that suggested that you are talking about a bathroom on an upper floor... is that correct? If this is an upper floor, do the floors below the problem bathroom have any plumbing fixtures and if so, what are the fixtures (below the bathroom) and are you having any problems with those fixtures? If there are fixtures below the problem bathroom and they are all working fine then I suspect the problem is in the upstairs drains and NOT in the main drain line??

Let us know more, OK?

Mark

PS: See if you can get a smaller drain cleaning company out...usually much cheaper than the major franchises!!

"Massplumber2008" I definitely see what you're saying and I wish that were the case. We have already taken the entire toilet off and attempted to snake the toilet down and there was no clog. It has to be somewhere under our cement floor since our original plumber could not get the snake to go more than the 25 or so feet.