Some what off topic, For new/old home owners

[Frenchy]

Most people here know I recently bought a new (73 year old) home.
So far except for minor things we wanted to change and renovations, the home is perfect for us. Well that was until last week!
The home has a Pittsburgh toilet (open toilet in the basement where coal and steel workers would wash up before actually going upstairs) and I was pretty fond of using this area my self... Lots of room, no problems with after effects of onions and or cabbage… No worries about waiting if some one is in the main bathroom. But while I was finally off for 3 days last week and doing some much needed wash, I found the sewage water was not quite making it outside fast enough… It was bubbling up through a floor drain meant to take away any flooding waters or shower usage.

$15 and a trip to Home Depot bought me a 25 foot manual rotary snake… A few more dollars bought me some liquid plumber, baking soda, vinegar… No go, the clog was still there. No where within reach of the 25 foot snake. Liquids seem to flow, although slowly, but solids seem to be blocking the pipe more and more… Tried using the bathroom with no butt wipes, and it dint work well… So I investigated further, there is an other pipe on the other side of the house, closer to where the pipe would actually go to the street system, and bump, bump a very hard stop, to my untrained senses as a plumber, sounds like I hit a steel wall… a mere 2 to 3 feet outside the house.. Looking online, I find I may have a root problem, or worst a crushed pipe!

Panic sets in, changing the pipes from the basement to the street, some 75 feet in all, and digging it all up… $much too much$

Then some thing we did while buying the house comes to mind… We took that insurance in case there where “hidden” flaws in the house we could not see on purchase or that may creep up in the year to come; we had taken this mainly because of the older furnace. Basically we are covered for repairs or replace if repair is not possible… This insurance covers every thing that was in the home when we bought it. This includes the plumbing!
http://www.onlinehsa.com is the insurance I am talking about, and turns out; you don’t have to be a new home owner to get it. With this and its coverage, the cost of repairing or replacing the pipes affected will be $50!
As there are a few people who where talking at one point about purchasing a new home, or building… I figure this may be some thing you all could use, new/old home owners alike.
$409 initial cost to us to take this insurance and it will pay its self in no time, and you can be sure I will be keeping that policy going!

[27hand]

Frenchy, does the policy include any type of maintainence calls? I guess what I'm asking is if a plumber shows up and snakes the sewer and it opens up, are you then responsible for the service call?

You may have a clogged house trap as opposed to a root problem(any trees close by?)or a collapsed sewer. If you have a clay (terra cotta) sewer and have trees, chances are good you have roots. Roots, even if augered out will come back forever (in clay sewers) and require constant(every few months snaking to maintain an open sewer.

Is there a pipe coming up to ground level just outside the house with a slotted cover? If so, this is a fresh air inlet which can also be the entrance point for a snake. It is installed to allow air to get into the drain lines.

As many homes are plumbed differently, you may need to rent(if you so choose) a large snake with a coil spring diameter of at least 3/4 inch to 1 inch. It should have a flexible leader about 3 ft long to get around the bend of a house trap. It will spin clockwise and counterclockwise and have a footpedal control to turn it on and off.

Although required by Allegheny County plumbing code to have a house trap(I'm not sure if you reside in Allegheny), many older homes were plumbed without them. All underground sewer lines are supposed to be 4" in diameter and up to about the 60"s transitioned to 6" terra cotta.

Some sewer cleaning companies offer sewer camera inspections which can sometimes determine the condition of the sewer(sewer must be open to do so).

If you want to see a diagram of what the underfloor plumbing line is supposed to look like, go to www.achd.net/plumbing/regs.php click on where it says "click here" got to section 711 and view illustration AC-711.2

It will show the underfloor pipe and what a house trap and fresh air are supposed to look like (diagrammatic sketch)

If you have any other questions before embarking on the replace the sewer mission, just ask and I may be able to answer them.

27

[Frenchy]

THe answer to the first part is If its a maintenance call (warented) you only have a deductable, if its a usless call you pay the bill, but if there are repairs of any sort, maintenance, replacement you only have the $50 deductable.

I do have an outdoor trap, it is scealed with a rubber and nut compression device air inlet is on the roof here. I am not sure if the outdoor trap is for the French drain or sewage. Yeah i would love to see the camera immages, that is the most definate way to see what is wrong, but unless the repairman they "suggest" cant repair or make it in a timely manner, you have no choice who comes to see/fix it. Mind you as long as it gets fixed, i prefer paying the $50 to a possible $4k

[Frenchy]

Well, as a followup on this, the plumber came by, the Insurance will not pay if the pipes are clogged by roots... DUH! its a 75 year old house! Might be a root or 2 there... Plumber said $175 per hour if its a root problem... Ihad him look at it, he put in his snake 25 feet further, water starts to move... Go turn on the water in the house on every tap before I pull out the snake, if its a roo, it may come off... I turn on a few taps, flush the john, come back out, the snake is out, and in the truck... Happy news no roots!!! $50 deductable.

Although I am pretty sure there where roots, the plumber is happy being paid by either party, he knows I would prefer have the insurance pay for it.

On the down side, never cook for your self when you have been cleaning your basement of sewage...
I was cleaning the basement out with a mop, some pretty smelly stuff like pine sol and amonia based cleaners and just about every thing I could think of that might disinfect the basement including baking soda and vinigar, while waiting for the floor to dry, I decided i needed supplies at the hardware store... Electrical I wanted to finish.

I go upstairs where my wife made some bacon, and decided I would have breakfast first... Vicky does not like eggs so I kooked up some scrambled eggs to go with the bacon and ate away.. My nose was so f'ed up by all the chemical cleaners I never smelled a thing. Went to the hardware store, came back and Pheeew man the house reaked of rotten eggs! I asked my wife is she also smelled it, she said Yeah, i think it was the eggs, I hope you dint eat them... (I DID !)
I felt quite fine all day, we had Lasagnia later that night, I had a second serving before going to bed at 2:30 am... By 3 am, I woke up with cramsp much to Vicky's delight, I was going to the Bathroom... Seems I left a few stink bombs in bed before I left for the bathroom.

I thought I was dying! Man the cramps! and they lasted all day long too. People at work said i looked fatigued and "white"... No Not caucasian, but white, like a sheet! All is better now, but I doubt i will be eating any eggs any time soon. Never smelled them while I was cooking because of all the chemicals I was playing with. but the after effect was some thing bad.