Hello
Has anyone seen this issue?
It all started when we saw a puddle of water on the floor in the basement in the half bath / laundry and room. After checking all the water pipes and washing machine with no sign of a leak!
Finally I noticed in this laundry room that turning the sink water on and flushing the toilet 3 times caused the backup and very large bubbles in the toilet! The water came out of the bottom of the toilet on the floor. Probably from the toilet Flange in the floor under the toilet. So after a while the water would eventually drain and the toilet could be flushed once or twice at the most with large bubbles.
So I put a 25 foot snake into the cleanout that goes into the pipe into the front yard. I felt something at approx 10 feet and a pulled out a small amount of organic matter. No fix.
Next I put a hose down and got pass the 10 foot problem area and turned on the 100 psi water full blast and it drained fine. Then I pulled the hose back less than 10 feet and again turned the water on full blast. Sure enough the pipe filled up and backed up on the floor! So the problem is at 10 feet or 8 feet from the front of the house approx 2 feet down. Got the shovel out and started digging. No water on the ground but this is close to where the new PVC line from the street sewer pipe connects to the old cast iron drain pipe into the foundation just below the concrete floor.
After digging the connection looks good no sagging or collapse. See pic
Now today after 5 days of this traumatic event the problem is gone! During a shower we ran the sink and flushed both toilets a total of 5 times and no bibles in the basement toilet and no backup!
Before the water leak we did have a strange smell and put baking soda and liquid plumber down the drain with no fix!
Therefore now that it is working?
I checked with the neighbors and they did not have a problem?
Could a piece of iron inside the pipe flak off and clog it up?
Or
Due to the record high rainfall this spring could something have floated back into the pipe from the high water table to clog it too?
Did the baking soda help or has the water table in the ground drop?
Any comments?
Pic 1 - iron drain pipe from house going into pvc pipe to street sewer
Pic 2 - PVC cleanout that is in between pvc pipe to toilet and pvc pipe that connects to old iron pipe going to street. New PVC stack in back right corner that goes straight up to roof and second floor bathroom connects into it.
Pic 3 - toilet right side where leak occurs and floor drain.
Has anyone seen this issue?
It all started when we saw a puddle of water on the floor in the basement in the half bath / laundry and room. After checking all the water pipes and washing machine with no sign of a leak!
Finally I noticed in this laundry room that turning the sink water on and flushing the toilet 3 times caused the backup and very large bubbles in the toilet! The water came out of the bottom of the toilet on the floor. Probably from the toilet Flange in the floor under the toilet. So after a while the water would eventually drain and the toilet could be flushed once or twice at the most with large bubbles.
So I put a 25 foot snake into the cleanout that goes into the pipe into the front yard. I felt something at approx 10 feet and a pulled out a small amount of organic matter. No fix.
Next I put a hose down and got pass the 10 foot problem area and turned on the 100 psi water full blast and it drained fine. Then I pulled the hose back less than 10 feet and again turned the water on full blast. Sure enough the pipe filled up and backed up on the floor! So the problem is at 10 feet or 8 feet from the front of the house approx 2 feet down. Got the shovel out and started digging. No water on the ground but this is close to where the new PVC line from the street sewer pipe connects to the old cast iron drain pipe into the foundation just below the concrete floor.
After digging the connection looks good no sagging or collapse. See pic
Now today after 5 days of this traumatic event the problem is gone! During a shower we ran the sink and flushed both toilets a total of 5 times and no bibles in the basement toilet and no backup!
Before the water leak we did have a strange smell and put baking soda and liquid plumber down the drain with no fix!
Therefore now that it is working?
I checked with the neighbors and they did not have a problem?
Could a piece of iron inside the pipe flak off and clog it up?
Or
Due to the record high rainfall this spring could something have floated back into the pipe from the high water table to clog it too?
Did the baking soda help or has the water table in the ground drop?
Any comments?
Pic 1 - iron drain pipe from house going into pvc pipe to street sewer
Pic 2 - PVC cleanout that is in between pvc pipe to toilet and pvc pipe that connects to old iron pipe going to street. New PVC stack in back right corner that goes straight up to roof and second floor bathroom connects into it.
Pic 3 - toilet right side where leak occurs and floor drain.
Attachments
![[Hearth.com] Strange main house drain clog in front yard sewer line?](/talk/data/attachments/244/244917-2d4b8ee2084b6f0becec288f737e292b.jpg?hash=rI9CH3Qmpv)
![[Hearth.com] Strange main house drain clog in front yard sewer line?](/talk/data/attachments/244/244918-e94d7ddab3372d27c069e4a3010b031a.jpg?hash=qR_42mWGdH)
![[Hearth.com] Strange main house drain clog in front yard sewer line?](/talk/data/attachments/244/244919-86b2ba2bb055dfaf723150788705ff7e.jpg?hash=vtEz2eIzGC)
Last edited:
This happened in Feb 2014 to my neighbor and he saved the flapper and I took a pic of it! They had to put a camera in the pipe to locate this flapper and cut out that section of pipe to fix it for $1500.00!!![[Hearth.com] Strange main house drain clog in front yard sewer line?](/talk/data/attachments/244/244943-3ae03c97134acfe69d94d1e8ae5a0ada.jpg?hash=_ByhufJAke)
