HELP-bathroom drain/main problem?

[abledsoe]

Rookie here, I hope I am posting this in the correct place. I am 1 year into my first home and not real knowlegable on plumbing yet. I am in desperate need of help/advice. Here is my situation:

House was built in 1941, on city sewer. 2 story cape cod with basement. About 2 weeks ago the toilet in the bath on the main floor started leaking from underneath into the basement. Called the home warranty, they sent out a (shady) plumber. He looked at it for about 2 minutes and decided there was a backup that needed snaking. It didn't make much sense to me as nothing was backing up when used, just a steady drip. He tells me that if he snakes it and finds tree roots the warranty wont cover it and it will cost me $300. So he pulls the toilet and snakes it and pulls out a piece of tree root about the size of my pinky finger (he also broke his snake off in my main while doing this). Charges me $300, puts the toilet back and bolts out of there (it was a friday afternoon).

About 20 minutes after he leaves it was back to dripping just like before. I had to leave town for the weekend so it was Monday before he came back out. Pulled the toilet again and said the flange was bad (not sure why he didn't notice this the first time he had the toilet off). So he replaces that and the drip goes away.

Since then that toilet doesn't seem to completely flush and if you flush it a second time it gurggles and backs up into the shower that sits next to the toilet. Also we noticed this weekend that when we had guests in, they used the upstairs guest bath and when they flushed it, it would back up in the same downstairs shower.

The plumbers are supposed to come back today or tomorrow but I feel certain he is gonna try to tell me I have a root problem in my main. He was telling me the last time I need to just have my entire main replaced ($5500 was the price he quoted me). But, it doesn't make sense to me that we had absolutely NO drainage problems before, then the flange goes bad, they work on it and now it wont drain at all. I cant imagine the tree root problem just exploded in the matter of a day.

Is it possible that he collapsed my main while snaking it? Could it be the root problem IS that bad? Any other ideas, thoughts, advice?

Thanks in advance, I appreciate ANY help.

 

[Cass]

Did he pull out the part of the snake that broke???

It is very possible that there is a root ball stuck in the line now.

The line may need further snaking to open it

A camera needs to be run down the line so you know if the whole line needs replaced or just 1 spot needs to be fixed....

Is there a large tree close to or inline with the tree?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

stopage

Sometimes the process of snaking tree roots, can cause a stoppage, if there were not a lot to begin with, but his snake just wound them up into a ball which could close the sewer, but did not remove them. This is a definite possibility, especially if his snake broke off before he got to the roots.

 

[abledsoe]

He did get the snake out. He had to bust the end cap off the main in the basement to pull it out, and while he had that open the main looked clear for as much as I could see, which is obviously not a whole lot. I will try to have him snake it again, but the last time he was here he was already talking about replacing the main. I just really don't think its in that bad of shape since there wasn't a single issue previous to this.

 

[Cass]

If the inside of the line was not inspected before you bought the house then you have no way of knowing what the condition of it was... the roots did not just grow over night...there were there when you bought the home...

He should have snaked the line again after breaking the snake and retreving it.

If he didn't he didn't finish the job and there may be a pile of roots blocking the pipe...I would insist the job be finished before anything is else is done if he didn't finish snaking the line...And a camera run B 4 replacing / repairing anything...

99% of the time a line can be snaked and the roots removed giving you time to decide on how to procede

It is rare that a line needs to be replaced on an emergency basis...but it does happen.

 

[abledsoe]

Okay, that makes me worry a little less. Hopefully I will have an answer later today. Thanks for all your help!!

 

[abledsoe]

Well, the plumber just called back and said there was nothing he could do. He isn't even going to come out here and look at it, just suggested I call the sewer company. So, I called the sewer company and hopefully its on their side of the line. Ugh.

 

[Cass]

The line needs to be finished being snaked...he didn't finish his job as far as I can tell from what you have posted so far...at this point I am guessing that is all that needs to be done so you can flush without backing up.

Did you pay him the $300.00?

If you did...

call the warrenty company and tell them that he charged you for a job that he didn't finish and you want your money returned from the company that THEY SENT....

 

[abledsoe]

I have already paid him the $300. He is basically telling the warranty company my problem is all tree roots and they said basically, "sorry we don't cover tree roots."
I just got off the phone with the warranty company and they said all I can do is see what the sewer company says, if its not on their end then I have to hire someone to camera the line to prove it is or is not tree roots. If its NOT tree roots then I can call them back and they will get back with the original plumber and see what to do.
So I am out $300 + my monthly warranty fee and have no working bathroom in my house.

 

[abledsoe]

Still waiting for the sewer company, they came yesterday but had some problem with their equipment and are supposed to come back today.

But I had a question...I have talked to another plumber and like some of you said, he said I need to have the original guy come finish the snaking job I paid for. But I was reading the paperwork from the first time he came out and it specifically says in there that if they break their snake working on your lines YOU are responsible for the cost of the equipment. Now he did not charge me for the snake and never mentioned it, but I am a little worried that if I call him up and demand he come back and finish the job he may say I owe him for the snake.
Is this typical for a plumber to charge a client for damaged equipment? Is there anyway he can actually charge me for that?

 

[abledsoe]

Sewer company came and ran their camera 40' into my line from theirs and said it was all clear, not a single root. Had a new plumber out today and he snaked it and broke 2 heads off in the same spot the previous plumber did. New plumber said he got NO tree roots out and suspects its collapsed. He is coming back tomorrow with a camera to confirm.
I know there is no way to prove it but I feel like the first plumber did it. Everything was working FINE before he started messing around with it.