Hi. I come seeking insight and advice. The 2 commodes in my 1970s home, which I just purchased last month, flush very slowly. Both rise slowly upon flushing, filling the bowl to the bottom of the rim lip (perhaps 1.25 inches short of overflow), then slowly go back down in a lazy spiral until finally completing with a loud, prolonged gurgle. Each commode does its job, flushing fully, every time and clearing all contents. Nevertheless, after living in the home for the first week and observing this, it didn't seem right to me and so I called a plumber.
After determining that there was no blockage in the line, the plumber said it must have a "belly". They said they'd know for sure with a camera test. So they ran a camera and verified there is standing water in the line. Essentially, a one-way slope to the endpoint. They left me the video tape of the camera journey with narration.
The drain line is about 75 ft from the outside clean-out to the most distant point, the master commode/tub drains. The last 30ft of the line slopes down in the wrong direction, and thus the last 10-15ft remains 100% full of water, 100% of the time. The hall bath line joins the main line at 61ft, still nearly 100% full at that junction. At about 58ft from the outside clean-out, the line is about 3/4 full and at 45ft it's mostly empty with what appears to be a small amount of water at the bottom of the line. From there to the clean-out and on past there to the city tap, the fall seems ok, holding only a small amount of water at the bottom, which the plumber says is normal.
The home is a concrete slab foundation. My plumber doesn't do this sort repair and referred me to another plumber who came out and declined to take it on and referred me to another plumber who specializes in this sort of "tunnel" repair. Got the bid today for $29K to tunnel under the home, raise the line, and fill the tunnel with some sort of concrete slurry mix, as required by city code. I'm hoping there is a cheaper solution than that.
I'm not a plumber so these may seem like dumb questions, but here goes.
1) House is on a corner. City says there is a main line I could tap into on the downhill side of my house, near the rear corner. Since the line already slopes downward toward the back corner (master tub/commode are in back corner) of the home, could I not simply head the other direction with a new line from the master bath out to a new city tap? I realize this would require busting the slab open and accessing all the junction points to change the direction of the connecting pipes. That would include the points where the master bath, hall bath, and the kitchen line (which includes the washer drain) all meet the main line. Perhaps I'd have to seal the abandoned portion beyond where the kitchen line joins the main at 33ft from the clean-out? Is this a viable option to consider?
2) Any other suggestions or ideas.
Thanks a lot if you've read this far. I'm hoping there is a solution other than the $29K fix.
After determining that there was no blockage in the line, the plumber said it must have a "belly". They said they'd know for sure with a camera test. So they ran a camera and verified there is standing water in the line. Essentially, a one-way slope to the endpoint. They left me the video tape of the camera journey with narration.
The drain line is about 75 ft from the outside clean-out to the most distant point, the master commode/tub drains. The last 30ft of the line slopes down in the wrong direction, and thus the last 10-15ft remains 100% full of water, 100% of the time. The hall bath line joins the main line at 61ft, still nearly 100% full at that junction. At about 58ft from the outside clean-out, the line is about 3/4 full and at 45ft it's mostly empty with what appears to be a small amount of water at the bottom of the line. From there to the clean-out and on past there to the city tap, the fall seems ok, holding only a small amount of water at the bottom, which the plumber says is normal.
The home is a concrete slab foundation. My plumber doesn't do this sort repair and referred me to another plumber who came out and declined to take it on and referred me to another plumber who specializes in this sort of "tunnel" repair. Got the bid today for $29K to tunnel under the home, raise the line, and fill the tunnel with some sort of concrete slurry mix, as required by city code. I'm hoping there is a cheaper solution than that.
I'm not a plumber so these may seem like dumb questions, but here goes.
1) House is on a corner. City says there is a main line I could tap into on the downhill side of my house, near the rear corner. Since the line already slopes downward toward the back corner (master tub/commode are in back corner) of the home, could I not simply head the other direction with a new line from the master bath out to a new city tap? I realize this would require busting the slab open and accessing all the junction points to change the direction of the connecting pipes. That would include the points where the master bath, hall bath, and the kitchen line (which includes the washer drain) all meet the main line. Perhaps I'd have to seal the abandoned portion beyond where the kitchen line joins the main at 33ft from the clean-out? Is this a viable option to consider?
2) Any other suggestions or ideas.
Thanks a lot if you've read this far. I'm hoping there is a solution other than the $29K fix.
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