Hello all,
This past weekend, I've come across somewhat of an unpleasant discovery..We have a corner house, and the north side of the house drains to one main sewer line, and the west part drains to another sewer line.
I'm in California, house built in 1950s, 2bath, all original cast iron drain pipes, which turn into 4" clay somewhere before the street. the problem is with the northern side of the house, which only has one bathroom. There are roots in the main line, which we've been getting snaked every two years (when the stuff starts to drain slow). Last weekend I took a look under the house because I heard a spraying copper supply line, and saw that the tub and sink drain lines each had 1 inch holes, to which all the water was draining into the crawl space. we immediately stopped using that bathroom, and for the copper pipe that was leaking, I was not in the mood to solder, so i cut it off and threw on a stop valve. (since we wont be using that bathroom anymore due to the leaking drain lines).
the leaking drain lines started to leak sometime in the last two months. I say this because I was down there two months ago with the plumber to replace the tub drain. He charged $300 to replace a couple feet of tub drain and snake the main line. It took him about 5 hours.
Now for the fix. I am thinking that its time to get everything done. I don't think it's worth it to fix just the leaking sink and toilet drains, because later on, the cast iron line might pop a hole somewhere between the toilet and the street. And I would assume that the roots in the main line are causing the added pressure to the sink and toilet drain causing them to pop holes. I'm thinking about getting all the cast iron (and clay until the street) in the north side (problem side) of the house replaced, as well as the west side (drains other bathroom and kitchen). We could possibly split up the work since the drain lines are totally separate. what do you guys advise?
I heard that they have this machine that can shoot a new pipe through the clay so they don't have to dig it all up? Also do plumbers ever agree to being paid by hour? I could tell him that we'll go to the hardware store and I'll pay for the parts and pay him an hourly rate? This may work well for both of us, since replacing all iron drain and copper supply lines could take quite some time and might be hard to estimate a price beforehand.
Gimme your thoughts.. Looking forward, thanks again.
This past weekend, I've come across somewhat of an unpleasant discovery..We have a corner house, and the north side of the house drains to one main sewer line, and the west part drains to another sewer line.
I'm in California, house built in 1950s, 2bath, all original cast iron drain pipes, which turn into 4" clay somewhere before the street. the problem is with the northern side of the house, which only has one bathroom. There are roots in the main line, which we've been getting snaked every two years (when the stuff starts to drain slow). Last weekend I took a look under the house because I heard a spraying copper supply line, and saw that the tub and sink drain lines each had 1 inch holes, to which all the water was draining into the crawl space. we immediately stopped using that bathroom, and for the copper pipe that was leaking, I was not in the mood to solder, so i cut it off and threw on a stop valve. (since we wont be using that bathroom anymore due to the leaking drain lines).
the leaking drain lines started to leak sometime in the last two months. I say this because I was down there two months ago with the plumber to replace the tub drain. He charged $300 to replace a couple feet of tub drain and snake the main line. It took him about 5 hours.
Now for the fix. I am thinking that its time to get everything done. I don't think it's worth it to fix just the leaking sink and toilet drains, because later on, the cast iron line might pop a hole somewhere between the toilet and the street. And I would assume that the roots in the main line are causing the added pressure to the sink and toilet drain causing them to pop holes. I'm thinking about getting all the cast iron (and clay until the street) in the north side (problem side) of the house replaced, as well as the west side (drains other bathroom and kitchen). We could possibly split up the work since the drain lines are totally separate. what do you guys advise?
I heard that they have this machine that can shoot a new pipe through the clay so they don't have to dig it all up? Also do plumbers ever agree to being paid by hour? I could tell him that we'll go to the hardware store and I'll pay for the parts and pay him an hourly rate? This may work well for both of us, since replacing all iron drain and copper supply lines could take quite some time and might be hard to estimate a price beforehand.
Gimme your thoughts.. Looking forward, thanks again.