What's going on with my sewer drain?

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Niloc75

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Good evening.

Twice now, I've snaked my ~98 year old sewer with a full 100 feet of snake, because I have water backing up in my basement after just a 4-5 minute shower. Both times, the 5/8" auto-feeding snake powered ahead with no issues both times. No roots, no apparent blockages, etc.
Also interesting, is that it doesnt appear that my sewer is much more than 75' in length, yet I pushed 100 feet of snake line. Check out the Seattle DSO Water and Sewer map (attached), my house is the upper right corner of the pic, with the blue pin stuck in it (6020). I assume the snake took a turn into my neighbors sewer, or went down our shared section.

More importantly, any ideas on why my sewer is still backing up?

much appreciated--

Snap34.jpg
 
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Niloc75

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hard to tell, but there is a scale on the lower left hand side, looks like about 30 feet per 1.5 inches. There is no outdoor cleanout, I used the cleanout attached to stack.
 

Niloc75

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If this DSO pic is credible, it appears that almost half of my sewer runs underneath my home. Does that seem possible/correct?
 

wwhitney

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If this DSO pic is credible, it appears that almost half of my sewer runs underneath my home. Does that seem possible/correct?
Sure, that's possible, except terminologically. The part under your house is called the building drain. The part outside the footprint of the house is called the building sewer.

I didn't read the OP too closely, but as you don't have an outdoor cleanout (could check to see if it's there but got buried since the house was built), then depending on how deep the building sewer is, it might not be hard to dig to expose the building sewer near the house and add a riser and cleanout there. That would help determine if the blockage is in the building sewer or building drain. And if it's in the building sewer, it would give you or anyone you hire direct access without going into the house.

Cheers, Wayne
 

Reach4

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because I have water backing up in my basement after just a 4-5 minute shower.
Also,
1. is the backup to a floor drain or the shower?
2. have you had backups there when not showering?

Snaking from the stack drain may not have been sufficient. The clog could be before the line that the cleanout is on.

Some floor drains have a plug to let you bypass the trap for rodding. If you rod thru the traps, you would probably need a lesser drain cleaning machine.
 

Tuttles Revenge

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The DSO map is a digital rendition of a map made 100yrs ago by hand. Take the lines of your house and the sewer with a grain of salt. If you go back to the map page and click on one of the pipe sections in the street and the little box that pops up with information on the size and type of pipe in the street, there will also be a Sewer Card listed. If you Look up seattle sewer cards or follow the link I provided.. You can enter that sewer card or your address. There you will see the original drawing of your house and sewer line and it will be outside of the footprint. These are Very accurate.

But the reason you are able to snake your line and still have a backup is likely due to a Soft Blockage.. toilet paper hung up on the rough aggregate of the old concrete sewer pipe.. Camera the line then usually a Jetter to clear it.. I have cleared soft blockages with the camera before, but..

Also, some additions to your home could have been made and they didn't upgrade the sewer to building drains. We see it occasionally.
 

Sylvan

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My house combo drain is from 1921 and I had a stoppage and ran my 11/4 cable 300 FEET and finally cleared the stoppage

Older homes can have excessively long runs of sewer piping

A video showed it ran under my neighbors home
 

Niloc75

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The DSO map is a digital rendition of a map made 100yrs ago by hand. Take the lines of your house and the sewer with a grain of salt. If you go back to the map page and click on one of the pipe sections in the street and the little box that pops up with information on the size and type of pipe in the street, there will also be a Sewer Card listed. If you Look up seattle sewer cards or follow the link I provided.. You can enter that sewer card or your address. There you will see the original drawing of your house and sewer line and it will be outside of the footprint. These are Very accurate.

But the reason you are able to snake your line and still have a backup is likely due to a Soft Blockage.. toilet paper hung up on the rough aggregate of the old concrete sewer pipe.. Camera the line then usually a Jetter to clear it.. I have cleared soft blockages with the camera before, but..

Also, some additions to your home could have been made and they didn't upgrade the sewer to building drains. We see it occasionally.
The DSO map is a digital rendition of a map made 100yrs ago by hand. Take the lines of your house and the sewer with a grain of salt. If you go back to the map page and click on one of the pipe sections in the street and the little box that pops up with information on the size and type of pipe in the street, there will also be a Sewer Card listed. If you Look up seattle sewer cards or follow the link I provided.. You can enter that sewer card or your address. There you will see the original drawing of your house and sewer line and it will be outside of the footprint. These are Very accurate.

But the reason you are able to snake your line and still have a backup is likely due to a Soft Blockage.. toilet paper hung up on the rough aggregate of the old concrete sewer pipe.. Camera the line then usually a Jetter to clear it.. I have cleared soft blockages with the camera before, but..

Also, some additions to your home could have been made and they didn't upgrade the sewer to building drains. We see it occasionally.
 

Niloc75

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Thanks a lot. I was worried about jetting such an old sewer. Is there anything to be concerned about, or is that used frequently/successfully with old concrete sewers?
 

Tuttles Revenge

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The operator should know which head to use for the material they're clearing. Anyone worth their salt in Seattle knows that they're likely in a concrete sewer. If it clogs frequently and due to the roughness, then lining to the main is probably your best approach.

My rule of thumb is that if you have to pay Once a year for maintenance, its maintenance. If its more frequent than that, then its time to fix the problem
 

Niloc75

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I assume you are talking about trenchless pipe lining? Do you have any recommendations for someone affordable in Seattle area? To be clear, we are not the typical wealthy Seattle family that can afford to pay 25K for a new sewer. I'd be fine with a retired fellow or someone less experienced/trying to build a book of business, to save some money... much appreciated--
 

Tuttles Revenge

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I assume you are talking about trenchless pipe lining? Do you have any recommendations for someone affordable in Seattle area? To be clear, we are not the typical wealthy Seattle family that can afford to pay 25K for a new sewer. I'd be fine with a retired fellow or someone less experienced/trying to build a book of business, to save some money... much appreciated--
Unfortunately pipe lining isn't something that just any plumber or side sewer contractor can tackle. The project we just had scoped they charge $200/ft to line. Which would put yours at the $20k range

Another company that I found by searching for "Seattle sewer lining" "...ranges from $85 to $125 per foot. It can also range from $4,000 to $20,000 for standard sewer lengths..."
 

Jeff H Young

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if run is clear for 100 ft it wont back up that quick. so something is wrong with the info run snake some more times . run camera and perhaps jet . I just got kind of a red neck sewer jetter I use my power washer with a kit bought online for my own home works not great but did what I needed. probably a small head on the snake with lots of build up
 

Niloc75

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Unfortunately pipe lining isn't something that just any plumber or side sewer contractor can tackle. The project we just had scoped they charge $200/ft to line. Which would put yours at the $20k range

Another company that I found by searching for "Seattle sewer lining" "...ranges from $85 to $125 per foot. It can also range from $4,000 to $20,000 for standard sewer lengths..."
 

Niloc75

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Thanks. I found the company you mentioned, called them, and heard a lot of hemming & hawing when I brought up the $85 to $125/foot pricing. So that might be a load of B.S./bait & switch strategy :) Anyway, it's free to have them stop by, so I'm going to do that on Wednesday and prepare to send them on their way once I recover from sticker shock.
 
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