[dreich]

my brother is going to install a much-needed sump pump for me in my unfinished basement, but he is concerned about hitting a pipe when he makes the hole in the concrete slab. Since there is probably rebar in the slab, his metal detector would not be able to isolate the pipe locations.
Is there any method for determining pipe location in the basement slab? ---this is a split-level house in Maryland... brick on 4 sides, basement is below grade, was built in 1959---no floor plans are available... most of the plumbing is at the rear... water supply into the house/cut-off is at the left rear of the 24 x 24 foot basement, with sewer pipes going out the front of the house to meet the at the street.

[speedball1]

Is there any method for determining pipe location in the basement slab?

I know of no machine that lets you know how the pipes went down under the slab. Life would be a lot easier for the remodel guy if we had one of those suckers.
Most plumbers that have been in the trade for some years can eyeball where the main stack vent comes down from upstairs and draw a metal line between the stack and the house clean out where the sewer exits the foundation. That would be the main. Then he eyeballs the fixtures in the basement, slop sink, Washer station, floor drain etc. and figures just where he would take the drain lines off the main for the fixture branches. In other words I ask myself. "How would I lay this job out"? You can come pretty close that way. But the sump pit wants to go in the low spot of the basement or where the water collects. Sometimes the only way to be sure is ti cut a exploritory trench and see for yourself. Good luck, Tom