Mendocino

Hello,

I have a septic system and when I bought the house three years ago I had to have the sewer pipe from the stem wall of the house to the septic system replaced. The pipe that was replaced was terra cotta and had disentigrated due to roots.

The sewer pipe from the drains in the house go under the basement slab and now has roots in it as well. I used a video inspection system and located the section of pipe with the roots. This bad section is near the stem wall (where the outside pipe was replaced) and extends into the basement about three feet. I read somewhare that houses of my vintage (1986) frequently got bad patches of cast iron pipe from China, thereby possibly explaining why one section of pipe was bad but not the rest.

I talked to a plumber and he wants $13K to fix it. This is outrageous IMHO. So, onto my questions:

1) Can I use a locator to mark on the basement slab where the pipe is, concrete cut it, expose the pipe, and add a new section?
2) Do I have to use cast iron pipe or can I add a plastic section to join with the existing cast iron and the new plastic pipe added outside the house?
3) I am having trouble finding replacement sections of 4" sewer pipe; where should I be looking?
4) Once the pipe section is replaced do I just back fill the trench with gravel/sand and then pour concrete into the saw cuts (with expansion joints)?
5) What is the proper pipe slope?

Overall I am very handy and have most of the tools and can rent the rest. I would be happy to pay a plumber for some of this but the rates are out of my budget. Any halp/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

zosoplumber

Yes, you can use a locater to find bad section. Find bad section, cut out bad section of pipe, take measurment of cut out section, subtract half an inch, buy pvc at lowes, homedepot(doesn't matter), i think they only sell 10ft lengths, also buy two "no hub bands" same size as pipe being replaced, they might also sell "Husky Bands", there a little bit more expensive but they hold up better, slide them on each end of new pipe, then take the pipe and place in the gap you have cut out of old pipe, then simply slide bands half way on to old pipe, tighten both bands. 4" pipe requires 1/8" per foot of fall, 3" pipe=1/4" of fall same with 2" and 1"1/2.

Mendocino

Thanks for the follow up Zosoplumber. Much appreciated. Do you have any advice on the backfill and concrete pour?

joed

Back fill hole with gavel and pour 3-4 inches of concrete to fill in missing slab. NO expansion joints.

Mendocino

Thanks Joed