Just bought a house and found out the main sewer pipe that leads under the house is busted. Dont know how much yet of the pipe is effected. How hard is it to replace just the damaged area yourself? I do know that the sewer pipe is PVC piping and have to measure the width of the pipe. Any advise on this would be appreciated.
Yes, you can easily cut, prime and glue PVC pipe to repair it. Drain pipes within the house perimeter should be sloped 1/4" per linear foot toward the main sewer line for gravity flow. It is probably 3" or 4" PVC line.
If you have a basement? It is easiest.
A crawlspace? Depends on how much vertical clearance.
Slab? Call a pro. Concrete will have to be cut or jackhammered out (and you must know exactly where) and replaced and the finished flooring replaced, in addition to the plumbing work. Caabinets, etc. may have to be removed and replaced as well.
Good luck!
Mike
Accessing the pipe is usually the hardest part. You can use No-hub or Fernco connectors to install a new portion of pipe. Your situation is one of the reasons to have a Home Inspection done before buying. If the leak is bad, the previous owners may have known about it and should have put it in the Disclosure form. This could throw the cost of repair back to them. Check with your Realtor about this.
Is it PVC(white) or ABS(black)? ..different glues. Agree with other post. If it is in basement or open crawl space, OK for DIY. Anything involving tunneling under a slab is too dangerous for a DIY job. If you cannot get enough movement in the pipe to insert glue in collars on both ends, use a hubless band clamp on one side. Be sure to get the kind with a full metal band around the connector, not the one with just a hose clamp on each end.
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