Sewer line. Is this a professional repair

[Pghsebring]

I would love to know how this was allowed. It had been "repaired" previously...by laying a piece of plastic over the broken clay part, then throwing the clay parts in the backfill as it was covered up.

My other questions, is the clay pipe, which is owned by the city, usually the cities responsibility? Where do they take over from in most jurisdictions? The PVC/donut connection is intact. Is my sister really supposed to cut back the cities clay line and fernco this thing? We are actually trying to find out if they city was the one who did this "repair" previously.

 

[James Henry]

You need to contact the city and ask them to come out and verify if that is there pipe. normally the city is responsible from the cleanout to the street. They may have a record of your property. when I worked for the city we would have to come out to your property even if you said you had a clogged toilet just to verify who was responsible. The city is afraid of bad publicity. Give them a call.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

I am not sure what we are looking at.

At first I thought the black was big cables going horizontally in the picture under the orange. Then I thought the black might be a big corrugated pipe, but that would not be the case for a sewer.

 

[John Gayewski]

The homeowner owns all of the way to the wye in the street here. Usually the city has clay pipe run anywhere from 3 feet to 60 feet off of the main, and it's all yours if something happenes to it.

 

[Pghsebring]

I am not sure what we are looking at.

At first I thought the black was big cables going horizontally in the picture under the orange. Then I thought the black might be a big corrugated pipe, but that would not be the case for a sewer.

I apologize that black flexible sprinkler line is running across the picture.

In the top picture, towards the street/sewer is "up." You can see the top of a white 4" PVC pipe that goes to the inside of a black donut, the black donut is supposed to be surrounded by a clay pipe bell but only a portion (that you can see on the left side of the pic) remains. The rest of the donut (and missing clay pipe portion) has been covered by a piece of orange plastic. Then the whole thing was buried exactly like that. Then a root grew between the orange plastic and the donut. My sister is trying to determine through city records who done it.

 

[Sylvan]

When we find defective Clay pipe it is the HOME OWERS responsibility to hire a licensed and insured contractor

The contractor will then cut out the broken section and under no circumstances do we ever use Fernco or placing plastic over the split and then pour cement as this does not require any skills obviously

What should be performed is after the defective section is removed we either go to the next hub and make a connection starting from there or use a mission shielded couplings and install cast iron in between the clay pipe

 

[Jeff H Young]

I prefer not changing back and forth from plastic to clay because the ID doesn't match and gunk can build up. but running PVC out to a clay pipe is standard. a couple pieces of clay bits in trench isn't horrible but is nice to leave them out, (actually might alert someone digging there is sewer below) , while you are down there throw them in your trash can as you wish.
I've never seen city take responsibility on your property. and often accept no responsibility for the entire lateral out to the middle of street and only repair the sewer main there. at least that's what they claim

 

[James Henry]

All your cities suck. The city taps into the main then runs a few feet and installs a clean out, then you tie in from there. Are you responsible for the tap that the city does? If the city pops that cleanout and it's full of water then it's their responsibility, if not then it's yours.

 

[hj]

It depends on your utility. Here some cities make the connection to the main line AND the lateral your responsibility while another will repair faults in the lateral. NONE of them install cleanouts in the laterals unless the customer/plumber does it, and very few,if any, do that. I never did.

 

[James Henry]

It depends on your utility. Here some cities make the connection to the main line AND the lateral your responsibility while another will repair faults in the lateral. NONE of them install cleanouts in the laterals unless the customer/plumber does it, and very few,if any, do that. I never did.

Most houses around here have a cleanout on the home owners side of the sidewalk and one outside the house. If theirs water in the cleanout by the sidewalk, call the city.

 

[Jeff H Young]

Most houses around here have a cleanout on the home owners side of the sidewalk and one outside the house. If theirs water in the cleanout by the sidewalk, call the city.

Here city tells you pound sand you got a stoppage you fix it.
city of Buena Park told me I must install a c/o 1 foot from property line , the one foot important that its on your property you are responsible.
Haven't dealt with lateral problems under street but I've heard many time that most city's baulk at repairing . but cant confirm the accuracy of that only that's what I've heard .

 

[Reach4]

Some sewer departments may be more helpful. They are not going to make the repairs before their sewer, but many sewer employees like to be helpful and have good knowledge.

 

[Jeff H Young]

Some sewer departments may be more helpful. They are not going to make the repairs before their sewer, but many sewer employees like to be helpful and have good knowledge.

Certainly worth a try , sewer , water, and gas utilities can be helpful

 

[Pghsebring]

She had to pay a plumber, this is what they found. Amazing. She has owned the house 3 years maybe so this was done at some point in the past, and somehow didn't clog til now, even without the roots. She was told her house has always had those buried power lines, I wondered myself if they had damaged it when they ran them later but apparently not, both the sewerline and powerline are original.

 

[Reach4]

This is money well spent, even tho it cost several trips to the casino or a few years of HBO.

That PVC to clay tile interface looks dodgy. I guess it was originally a Donut. I think a flex coupling of the right type would be better.

I first though the people who put in the orange irrigation line would be be prime suspects. But in other photos I see that the irrigation line is significantly higher.

Can vehicles drive over that space?

Do you have a picture of the fixed stuff.

 

[Storm rider]

Love the zip ties, but why didn't they use duct tape?

 

[Pghsebring]

This is money well spent, even tho it cost several trips to the casino or a few years of HBO.

That PVC to clay tile interface looks dodgy. I guess it was originally a Donut. I think a flex coupling of the right type would be better.

I first though the people who put in the orange irrigation line would be be prime suspects. But in other photos I see that the irrigation line is significantly higher.

Can vehicles drive over that space?

Do you have a picture of the fixed stuff.

Cars don't get anywhere near it, its in the middle of the yard, on the house side of the sidewalk too.

She didn't send me the important picture (the connection) just this:

 

[Jeff H Young]

can't see the work in last picture but you did good job exposing be careful though with that power! poor repair though...

but you just gotta connect the 2 properly , might consider running camera down and getting a good inspection just so you know

 

[sajesak]

I would love to know how this was allowed. It had been "repaired" previously...by laying a piece of plastic over the broken clay part, then throwing the clay parts in the backfill as it was covered up.

My other questions, is the clay pipe, which is owned by the city, usually the cities responsibility? Where do they take over from in most jurisdictions? The PVC/donut connection is intact Sewer Repair Contractor Seattle. Is my sister really supposed to cut back the cities clay line and fernco this thing? We are actually trying to find out if they city was the one who did this "repair" previously.

Got a call for a sewer repair. Woman's sewer backs up when she does laundry. She had a sewer/drain cleaner come out & snake out pipe. They also did press. water test to find problem. They said problem in pipe was between sidewalk & house. The sewer is 6' deep. So to replace 15' of pipe they wanted $2500. Add $300 to take out small tree (6" diameter) & add $400 to remove 1 section of sidewalk if repair goes under sidewalk.

I'm sure many people go with there price right away if they don't have working bathrooms. Lucky for this lady her water only backs up while doing laundry so she could get mutiple prices.

 

[Jeff H Young]

Got a call for a sewer repair. Woman's sewer backs up when she does laundry. She had a sewer/drain cleaner come out & snake out pipe. They also did press. water test to find problem. They said problem in pipe was between sidewalk & house. The sewer is 6' deep. So to replace 15' of pipe they wanted $2500. Add $300 to take out small tree (6" diameter) & add $400 to remove 1 section of sidewalk if repair goes under sidewalk.

I'm sure many people go with there price right away if they don't have working bathrooms. Lucky for this lady her water only backs up while doing laundry so she could get mutiple prices.

sounds reasonable to me But yea get another price , or ask him how much if you dig it all and do the backfill. you can probebly get it done for half price