Waste line backup on new remodel

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SLH350

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So we've been in our new house for approximately 2 weeks. It's a 1918 build that was recently completely restored and remodeled for resale by a building company. Basically a flipper. I'm usually wary of such things but we loved the house, location, etc, I digress. I come to you seeking some professional perspective as to whether this may be a result of someone cutting corners in plumbing the house. All the plumbing was redone in the house earlier this year so I'm at a loss as to why we would be having an issue after occupying it for 2 weeks unless it's A. A city problem on that side of the waste line or B. Someone messed something up.

The current situation:

A week ago we found a decent amount of water puddling in the basement coming from a PVC line.

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The home warranty folks sent a plumber out who deduced that the issue was just a failure to tighten the cap down properly, he tightened it further and applied sealant to it to prevent any future leakage. I'm in the military and was gone during all this so I didn't have a chance to QA the fix but it sounded simple enough. Come to find out this PVC line is actually the main waste line for the house that runs out to the city hookup. This is where things get even more fun.

Earlier today I ran the dishwasher as I do most evenings and my wife noticed a 'glug glug' noise from the first floor toilet. Upon running down to the basement we found a sizable amount of sewage pouring up out of the waste line for the washing machine (also located in the basement). I killed the dishwasher and the flow stopped. In an attempt to determine what all would affect the issue I had my wife try the kitchen sink as well as flushing one of the upstairs toilets (stupid in hindsight but oh well). I could clearly hear the flow come down through the waste line and hit right about where the Y fitting brings the waste water from the washing machine to the main waste line. It sounded to me like the backup had to be downstream of the washing machine line connection to the main line and somewhere in the general vicinity of the cap that was leaking a week prior. It seems like a small amount of flow, like just the kitchen sink running, will not cause the backflow, but a toilet flush, the dishwasher draining, or even my wife dumping a full bowl of water into the kitchen sink will trigger it. My thought is maybe a partial blockage, but I don't know if something they did with that cap could've caused that.

Attached are pictures of the waste lines coming down from the back corner of the house, through the crawl space, into the laundry room, and out the front of the basement. I can't imagine I've done anything to clog a waste line in such a short amount of time so I'm really at a loss as to what could've caused this.

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Any input/insight that I can bring to the table when discussing this with the plumber the builder sends out as well as my insurance company would be greatly appreciated.
 

Reach4

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Is that washing machine standpipe your lowest drain opening in the house?

Do you have a cleanout in the yard? If so, look down there with a bright light while running water.
 

SLH350

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Is that washing machine standpipe your lowest drain opening in the house?

Do you have a cleanout in the yard? If so, look down there with a bright light while running water.

Yes it's definitely the lowest drain opening, that and the basement sink that's right next to it which also filled up with waste water. I can't find a cleanout anywhere in the yard but I may just be missing it in the dark. I'll check again in the morning.
 

SLH350

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All I could find outside was this on the exterior wall that appears to be in roughly the same place as where the waste line drops down from the 1st floor to the crawl space. Nothing in the ground that I can find.

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Reach4

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Is pipe A (marked below) the lowest pipe in your crawl or elsewhere that you can see? It looks as if it might be heading out to the sewer. Or is there another pipe that would be the pipe heading out to the sewer?

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SLH350

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Pipe A is the lowest point pictured there, it then continues through that wall into the laundry room-

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jdPwMly.jpg


Here you can see where the line from the washing machine and basement sink hits the main line in that little Y right there.

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Then this is the other side of that wall where you can see the washing machine line hitting the main line in that previously pictured Y and then continuing into the main part of the basement where that previously repaired cap is.

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Then from the cap the line continues as shown here and disappears into the concrete at the front of the house, I'm assuming going underground into the front yard and then into the city line. I can't find any clean out in the front yard where I would expect that line to be running.

Sorry for the confusing pictures, hopefully this clears up the sequence a little better.
 

SLH350

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Here's a rough sketch of the overall waste line layout. The two aft lines come down from the second and first floors, then hit the washing machine line, then exit the front of the house.
 

MKS

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The cap that was sealed may have been a clean out. Though I would think a wye would have been called for.
I would ask to have the main line scoped.
Tree roots, construction debris, collapsed main.
A belly or low spot in the line could create the problem too. Lines need to be sloped correctly.
 

Plumber01

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The last picture says it all. And the built in 1918 part.

Old cast iron main. Hard to tell from the picture but it looks like the first piece of cast is laying flat and the goes up?!? through the foundation wall.

Need to get the line rodded and run a camera through it. There might be problems downstream of that as well.
 

Reach4

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Here's a rough sketch of the overall waste line layout.
The sketch says nothing to me. I am not a plumber.

Getting your old drains inspected by camera sounds prudent. Your cast iron may go into the yard, and then switch over to clay... filed with roots perhaps.
 
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