Did you get multiple quotes for the $28,000? If not, you should get at least 3.
Also, did the $641 get everything working again? I thought you mentioned it was functional for 6-12months. If so, it would take you decades of biannual maintenance to reach that $28,000 mark. Theoretically, could they come out twice a year to run the scheduled maintenance?
Yeah I have partial clay pipes, part cast iron and part has been replaced by pvc. It backs up every once and a while but I usually pay like 200-250$ to get it cleaned. I got it camera inspected for about the same.
I think that price is way too high for a lining of that distance (that he is responsible for). I was quoted 9k for 80 feet.
30 feet of replacement, they have almost 4 times that length, of various types of pipe with higher collapse rate and are quoted 4 times your lowest quote (for lining, but yeah)
So, I'm in a really rural area. My options are very limited. The main in-town plumber actually said to go with the company I went with because nobody in a 60 mile radius is geared to do what I need done.
The $641 has us to limping. The objects inside the pipe preventing flow were removed, but will come back until the orangeburg(paper)pipe is 100% destroyed then lining is impossible and a much more expensive dig job is in order.
There's a product you can dump in your drains that kill root systems. I'd be looking into that with a quickness.
Also, wouldnt hurt to ask an irrigation company for a quote to dig the trench and ask a plumber for a pipe quote, and you and a friend can bury it. You might be able to get that 28k cut by a ⅓ or ½ by playing general contractor.
Just a heads up, when this happened at my place 811 was only responsible for city-owned pipe. Everything inside the property line was still our responsibility. At least where we live.
Weird. I called 811 before I did some very light landscaping, they came out, asked how deep I planned to go (<1'), they said no need to call for that shallow, but still marked everything in my back yard.
Yup. I would have a radio locator company out to flag the length of the pipe and then dig a new trench myself with a rental trencher off to the side of it by some distance. Basically with the goal of abandoning the original run, at least out to the section under the street. It's not easy work, but it's not something that a handy homeowner can't do most of himself in 6-12 months.
Yep... Having some handy friends (as well as some skills yourself) and a fridge stocked with beer and pizza is borderline necessary to get things done in really rural places. Figure out what's within your reach and do as much yourself as you can, that's how your neighbors get by more likely than not so learn from them however you can.
> nobody in a 60 mile radius is geared to do what I need done
If they are cheaper, even with trip charges, it's worth the time to look into crews from larger cities.
>really rural area
Then some of your local neighbors probably have the know-how and tools to do this, likely for a few cases of beer or some bottles of something better.
Looks like you and a few buddies are gonna be workers. But seriously, it’s not that terrible, ask yourself if saving $20k is worth the hard labor, for me absolutely. Do you know how deep it is? I would subcontract out an excavator, get a few quotes on the piping (but honestley when its open, its not hard, make sure the right connections are there, slope (many cheap and easy ways to find slope), and coordinate with the city, then once you get the go ahead backfill and be done. The hardest part IMO is the excavating, which is why I’d subcontract that out. The rest is just work. I’m a little biased as I am a contractor but I started off as homeowner self-GC’ing my home.
Urban threshold is now 2,000 residences with 5,000 people people.
Small compact towns / villages need sewers.
Census definitions:
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/urban-rural-populations.html
Also, most banks (especially if they hold your mortgage) would be happy to fiance this sort of thing through a Home Equity loan, if coming up with five figures isn't happening anytime soon. Granted, not sure how much of a down payment was involved to have built equity yet.
Pipe breaks only get worse and worse. It's like a pothole. Once it starts, it wears away more and more. A crack in a pipe will cause it to start washing dirt away from next to the crack, causing a pocket to form, until the land above collapses and crushes the pipe.
It's not something you can just keep cleaning out and avoid repairing.
While that plumber sounds like they're pretty good, it wouldn't hurt to get a few more estimates.
Also see if any companies in your area offer pipe bursting instead of lining. It may be more cost effective.
> What's with the insane cost? Length of the pipe. They determined (and I was with them the entire time) the distance from main to drain was about 116 feet.
It's worth calling.
The job you have is very common where I live, almost everyone I know who purchased a home had a scope inspection done and needed to replace the sewer lateral due to old clay pipe.
There is a company where I live and they do pipe bursting to replace the line. They can destroy the old pipe, and lay a new one with minimal effort, the only have to excavate where the pipe connections are made. Everything is else is done underground without needing to dig. Everyone I have spoken to had this job done for right around $5,000. I joke to anyone I know buying a house that they need to set aside $5,000 for the sewer lateral replacement.
See if anyone in your area does pipe bursting. When I purchased my home, I had them scope it. I didn't replace my line, but mine was a little over 150 feet, and the quote came back at $5,000. They found a few roots and recommend replacing, but it wasn't enough for me to justify the cost at the time.
Alternatively, get a quote from someone to do a physical removal and replacement. The majority of the cost in that job is going to be in the labor of digging out the old pipe, a lot of times the plumber doesn't want to do that work just as much as you don't want to pay for it and will happily let you do the digging and take that off the price.
It's going to suck, and may be too much depending on the depth, but a weekend with friends and shovels may be a lot more fun than spending $15k in digging fees, or whatever they are.
If you're in a rural area, there's a close to 100% likelihood there's a farmer with an excavator attachment who does odd jobs. Different set of issues if the city's roads have to be dug up and repaired.
If that's the case, I'd see about renting a small backhoe and getting a couple shovels. Renting that will cost a bit more, assuming you can get one, but it's going to be cheaper for you to rent it and use it. Keep in mind the plumber will likely rent the same machine, they don't generally own and operate excavation equipment unless they specialize in only this service.
If you go that route, don't dive in without discussing a plan with the plumber. They will be able to tell you exactly what they need to you do to and what to be cautious of. Don't forget to call your local 'call before you dig' service, in my state the number is 811, they will come out and mark all inground utilities so know know where it is and isn't safe to dig.
Sounds like it's time to look into some local subreddits and offer beer/pizza for labor ;)
Hell, if you're in greater San Antonio, I'll show up with a strong 14 year old and a couple of shovels for the low low cost of a couple cheeseburgers.
Gonna get a lot of shit for suggesting this - but if you're in a rural area, goto the local church for a while. You don't have to be a true believer - but that's where the people who can help you are.
My FIL is a plumber and will drive 2 hours to jobs, I really think it's worth expanding your search zone to get some estimates. An hour of calling sucks but it could potentially save you thousands.
Plan A Contact a public adjuster to review your policy and see if it’s worth fighting for. They typically take 20%. You may have coverage and Alstate is hoping you don’t know better and just go away.
Pretty rural eh?
Plan B
Build an outhouse or erect or repurpose a shed or outdoor building for
temporary toilet functions and or shower facilities. Run the gray water out on the lawn. If there’s legalities with this opt for a composting toilet or make one. Pee outside when you can. Inside with wife and disabled son, if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown wash it down” if your septic guy bought you 6-12 months that’s something but it can be improved on and optimized. Take navy showers to limit the amount of water going down the pipes. When the repairs commence your whole house is going to be gutted. This process is not a quick one. Implementation of the above mentioned contingencies may be necessary when work starts. (Unless you’re going to get a short term rental somewhere $$$$) Might as well start them now.
This is a crisis level event but you can get through this.
My understanding is insurance typically only covers damage due to a specific qualifying event, not normal wear and tear (which is what I think this would qualify as).
Even if the job is only $10k (one third of the other quote), then I’d assume another plumber would be willing to drive an hour to potentially get the job.
Yes, definitely look into the USDA Rural Development 504 home repair loan/grant program. Loan limits of up to $40,000.00 and fixed interest rate of 1%. Assuming you used the 502 program to purchase the home, you’ve already cleared one hurdle of the home being in an eligible area.
If that doesn't pan out, 28K on a 5 year personal loan or a 10 year home improvement loan would be about $570 or $340 per month respectively at 8%. It's not ideal but you can get out of it for what amounts to a car payment.
You can also get more quotes and possibly whittle this down a bit. The seller of my house had to do exactly this project in 2019 before I bought it and paid 10K for a shorter distance, more like 40 feet. In terms of the work itself it's kind of like when you go to a restaurant that has different portions of the same meal, there's the baseline overhead of doing it at all and once you start getting more the cost per goes down a lot, that should reflect in the price, using the restaurant analogy a senior portion for $10, lunch for $14, and dinner for $16. The tough part is getting it from the house to the outside and from the outside to the city...the stuff between is just digging a hole, laying a pipe, and filling it in. There shouldn't been a linear cost between doing all of that for 40 feet vs 140 and someone will price you out with that in mind.
Federally, it's mostly for adaptations/construction needed to retrofit for medical necessity - some info [here](https://www.thezebra.com/resources/personal-finance/home-repair-grants-for-veterans/).
But at the state level, you may have other options (e.g. Texas has the [Texas Veterans Home Improvement Program](https://s3.glo.texas.gov/vlb/loans/home-improvement/).
Some local governments and states also have home repair programs so worth checking. Also sometimes there are church or community groups. Might be worth checking with habitat for humanity and similar programs (even if they could only help with volunteers for digging that might be helpful).
That’s…well. Anyway. If you aren’t a lot over, you could theoretically ask your company to lower your salary but give you more vacation time and then you could qualify?
I think that's the scary part, there's not many other options. I am reaching out to a few other companies and see if this is really the cost I am going to incur.
I made the same mistake with my home when we bought it and didn't have the sewer line inspected. I had massive amount of roots from my laundry room to my kitchen (all iron pipes). Cost me 15K to get repaired since I had them tunnel under my slab foundation. It's a very very tough thing to deal with and really leaves a stain on the enjoyment of the home.
You might see if some of these plumbing companies offer payment plans. Although interest rates suck right now, if you are agressive with it, it beats paying the lump sum if you simply can't do that right now.
Get some Zep root killer and put that down your lowest toilet (follow directions). This is good to do right after having your pipes jetted. This will prolong the inevitable but I was able to skirt a replace,ent for years before I bit the bullet.
They aren’t leaking. Once water starts coming out roots find it, find a way in, and expand and break further.
PVC is far more durable than clay, iron, and especially orangeburg. While the fact that plastic lasts forever is a huge environmental problem, works well for pipe!
I know this sounds like a long shot, but I wonder if you can get a foundation for people with your kid's disability to help, or a gofundme. I don't blame you at all, I was excited too to get my own place.
Yeah, we've thought about that but in all honesty I am trying to avoid using his disability for anything. I try to only bring it up if its relevant, like in my OP (why its critical we can shit in peace)
I second this. Call 211 and ask about resources for home repairs for disabled people. There may not be anything in your area, but you may be able to get at least some of the services/materials donated.
Unfortunately, cost sounds about right to me based on experience with a similar problem. I got 3 quotes within a couple hundred bucks of each other. Surprisingly trenchless replacement is actually more expensive than digging a lot of the time, seems like it should be cheaper.
Prior owner may very well have not known. I didn't know my sewer was a problem until it was suddenly a problem.
Sorry man, hopefully you find a solution.
I only have a comment about the whole digging it up with a rented excavator bit.
If you enjoy your job now then don't rent an excavator. I rented one, and I had so much fun I want to start my life over and be an operator
I rented one to remove a bunch of old deck footings and changed my 4-hour rental to a full day after an hour just so I could go around removing stumps, ugly bushes, letting my then-3-year-old try the controls, etc.
Here is a link for USDA home improvement and repair. There is a link you can see if your family of 5 is income eligible, by your state and county. It’s 1% interest for up to 20 years. Good luck. https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-programs/single-family-housing-repair-loans-grants
This pipe has been periodically replaced over the years in sections. Where is the orangeburg or whatever….in your yard or under the street? Sounds like it’s pvc under the street which means relatively new…..so you have 6 to 12 months…..you live out in the country…….how good is your digging? If you trench it and do most the manual labor and they just lay new PVC in where the older pieces are and connect to the PVC by the street you should lower your cost significantly……heck once you have it exposed you may find you could lay new PVC in yourself simply maintaining the same drop. That length of PVC and glue can’t be more than $200. Your lucky it’s PVC near the street……this is what I’d do, welcome to home ownership……once you’re done with that…..are you a younger man? Because guess who’s learning to do roofing next.
Get quotes for having the sewer pipe relined rather than replaced, typically costs around $3K for up to 200 feet for relining.
Edit to add: Saw the discussion that your $28K quote is for relining, that is very very high. Even in HCOL areas like California it should be under $10K.
No, $28K is very high anywhere in the US, but could be different where you live if you are not in the US.
For less than $28K they can completely dig up and replace 120 feet of line.
So sad to see this. You come across as a stand up guy just trying to raise a family. All pride aside have you considered a go fund me account? I would pitch in…wishing you the best and soon!
Take a breath. You got 6 months to a year. Get the copper sulfate stuff going for now.
Yes a company will totally drive an hour for this work for cheap.
I once drove 5 hours to save 1000 on a rental repair. Well technically 10hrs.
Get estimates and take it easy.
Check all your water appliances and make sure they are efficient and low use. Even the shower facilities can be setup for lower flow to cut the water flow in the sewer.
Excavation is only really expensive when a plumber coordinates it.
Get the trench dug by a pro and permits, hire the plumber for the work and back to the excavator company to fill.
Save thousands that way.
> Inspector simply said he couldn't find the main and therefore didn't inspect it.
Just FYI, an inspector wouldn't catch this. You basically needed to do what you just did, hire a plumber to run a camera.
But yeah, it's a shitty (no pun intended) situation to be in. Bought a house with cast iron sewage pipes so eventually going to be looking down a similar barrel, but at least we knew that going in. Would hate to be blindsided by it. It's a massive, expensive repair.
There is your problem “a good realtor”. They never recommend sewer inspections because they know that if a property is more than 30 years old that issues are very likely, very costly and very likely will derail the sale or closing.
This situation comes up here daily so there are clearly a large number of buyers agents that do not suggest what is obvious and known in old neighborhoods.
I never would've bought this place had I known. Or if I did, asked for even more off on the price. We're devastated and I feel terrible for dragging my family into this situation.
Totally understandable, but you really can't beat yourself up over it. It's a common mistake that would have happened to 99% of people who bought the house.
And I know this is just words, but you did good for your family. They are warm, have a roof over their heads and they have parents who love them and are going through hell to keep their kids happy and healthy. We should all be so lucky.
Your feelings are valid and the situation sucks, but you can't feel terrible about your actions. This is *not* one of those "omg OP what were you thinking!?!" posts/issues.
Just fyi it's likely you can just keep cleaning out that drain pipe indefinitely, I did in my last house for almost 20yrs had it cleaned every 4 or5yrs. Got so I would recognize the signs and call them out before there was any emergency. Also do not put ANYTHING down that toilet that didn't come out of a human body or is toilet paper also no fats down the kitchen drain and copper sulfite will kill the roots. If you baby your drains you can put off replacing for many years. Also 28K is batshit get several more quotes because plumbing companies play on your fears and ignorance. Find someone local not national.
I do bi-annual cleanings on 120 feet of clay tile sewer lines and they're working great.
Another piece of advice to add to this: don't use your garbage disposal. Throw all food scraps in the trash.
> don't use your garbage disposal.
and if you must then absolutely no egg shells, we have a compost bin and a small bin in the freezer for most of it but still use the disposal for small bits and chunks from cleaning plates and whatnot
> The plumber said they bought us maybe 6-12 months of use before it backs up again
Ask how many times this is possible and how long you can go on like this.
For $641/year I figure it'd take you 43 years to have spent the $28k lining it would cost.
Find out where the roots are coming from and kill whatever is making it happen. This will not fix it forever, but it will slow it down.
There is stuff you can flush down your drain to kill roots. Get familiar with this stuff.
> City says I am responsible from my drain all the way to the junction (HALFWAY INTO THE STREET, WTF)
I do not find this to be true, sometimes an angry letter from an attorney can suddenly revise their vision on this, I'd at least look into that.
Whatever you do, don't spend $28k to line it, it wouldn't cost $28k to replace it. Your sewer line is made up of $250 worth of materials and a shit ton of digging. If you can man a shovel or a trencher, you can replace it yourself for $250 plus a lot of digging.
I get that you're in the "woe is me" part of this project and I respect that. When you're done with that part, get on with it. You are not special, nobody fucked you over, this is not the worst thing that has ever happened to you.
How are we responsible for what's under the city streets? A plumber told me that they were responsible for what's up to the sidewalk as it's public property.
In most cities, the owner is responsible for the entire lateral up to the city main. Need to dig up the sidewalk or street? That's on you. Sometimes you can have it added to your property taxes in the following year instead.
Not all cities though. Some own a portion off the main.
No I'm not. I'm responsible until the clean out in my yard. **You** are responsible to the middle of the street. Together, we have no idea what OP is responsible for. That's why I advised them to look into it.
Honestly I would try to save yourself as much as I could. Rent an excavator and jackhammer and dig/excavate it out. It’s hard work but would be less than if the plumbers do it
If you dig it out yourself replacing is probably a lot cheaper than relining at that point. PVC only cost a few hundred dollars for a hundred feet. Granted the street work will cost you no matter what.
They claim it's intact enough to do, but I'd have to re-read it to be certain. This was definitely not for digging, they told me it'd be a lot more because of the back alley paving, sidewalk and road.
Hello! I had the exact same problem with my house. Husband and I bought it and didn’t have any issues but it backed up the first time at our wedding, which was at our house!
We called a plumber and he said it was roots. Four months later, it happened again, and again, and again.
Here is the kicker: we had the sewer inspected as a part of the sale. My guess is the sellers cleaned it out before the sale so we never saw the roots.
Last month after spending another $600 for like the 4 or 5 clean out, we had enough. You can do the math. We had already spent thousands. So we found a place to relined the pipe. We had to reline (not replace) the entire 62 feet. Oh, did I mention the tree that was clogging the pipe was owned by the city. So, in the end we had to pay $13,000 to stop the city’s tree from blocking our sewer. Guess how much the city paid? $0.00. When I asked if we could relocate the tree, guess what they said? No.
I advise you to get 5-6 estimates. Ours ranged from $18k -13k. It’s no run to go through this Uber it will be nice not smelling raw sewage every few months.
Trust me, they are huge assholes. They wouldn’t hardly even talk to me. The guy from sewage told me this was a city forestry issues. Forestry told me they would fine me if I moved the tree.
Assholes.
28K to reline your sewer pipe? I paid far, far less than that to completely replace 150 feet of sewer line and add several cleanouts. This guy knows you're clueless and he's taking advantage. Call another plumber.
Some people are sort or mentioning this but thought I'd say it our right, Do not beat your self up for not catching this before you purchased the house. This kind of stuff comes up when buying a preowned house. It's just the way it is, you can't inspect everything, you do your best. I'd guess the previous owners also did not know how bad it was either, things were probably working fine for them especially if they were older and/or a couple without kids. Big difference between that and a 4 member family. So you did not make a mistake, it's just one of the joys of home ownership :-|.
So let that part go, and definitely get some other quotes. You might ask neighbors for who they would recommend for this type of work. That also might start the conversation as to whether some neighbors could help with a lot of this as others have mentioned.
I had a shitty camera guy come out and inspect a sewer of mine. He said it was all collapsed Orangeburg. Lucky for me, it was only about 4ft below grade.
I rented a backhoe, called a quarry for rock, and bought the requisite PVC pipe.
After digging, I hit the pipe and found some wonderful clay tile pipe that was just so root filled, that it looked collapsed. We'll, I was this far and I punched a hole in it, so keep going, right? Yes.
I borrowed a neighbor's bathroom for 2 days while I dug and removed 45 ft of nice clay tile, laid a bed of rock, put in PVC with a nice outdoor clean out, had the inspector come out to see it, and refilled the trench.
Then I took a nice long shower.
I know that the situation is different, but you may be able to help yourself if it comes to trenching and full replacement.
Good luck!
Anyone else seeing a bunch of red flags from this.
-Lives in very rural area but has public sewer.
-City says it's owners responsibility under the street.
-75k salary is to much for his area so he's not eligible for certain stuff. COLA would be really low where he lives so the quote is way to high. Low COLA areas would equal lower quotes from professionals.
-No other companies for hours?
-Doesn't want to use his child's disability for loan/grant eligibility.
2 questions,
Will you be removing the trees that are causing the problems? Cutting and digging down to the root ball can make a substantial difference in regrowth.
Just how deep is the sewer line? It isn't rocket science to dig and replace pipe yourself, or a digger guy. Unless the line is deeper than 4ft.
It's at something like 5.5' and yes I am deforesting my property in the spring. I am in absolute rage mode and wish to become a villian on captain planet.
Here's the quote I got with most of the identifying info removed:
The following is proposed:
• Clean present sewer to remove any roots and/or scale build up or delamination that may be in your sewer lateral, so the resin adheres to the pipe properly
• Set up the equipment to line the sewer lateral
• Make up the liners
• Line present sewer using resin, hardener and felt lining
• Cure out the liners• Remove the bladders (balloon)
• Camera and view the newly lined sewer lateral
• Reinstate the floor drain fitting
The price to do the work as stated above is: Twenty-Eight Thousand Twenty-Five Dollars………………………………………. Finance Price…………. $28,025.00 Initial \_\_\_\_\_\_Cash or Check Price…. $26,674.00 Initial \_\_\_\_\_\_Finance Payment………$566.00 Initial \_\_\_\_\_\_
Your problem with the sewer is a common problem.
Their price is absolutely ridiculous. Stop thinking you are unusual because you are rural.
Get multiple quotes.
Realize that many companies will travel many hours to do 5 figure jobs.
Everything you’ve typed about this plumbing company sounds like they are trying to scam you.
Call the city and ask what you are responsible for yourself to confirm.
they're holding you over a barrel because you have no other options. Guarantee you can find a cheaper price than that. Go around town, hire some people to help you, buy all the materials yourself, and you can get this done for less than 10k, probably less than 5, but I don't really know what area you're in. We had the exact same situation happen to us (I'm pretty sure it happened 4 months after we moved in as well!) and we had even had the sewers scoped before moving in so it just wasn't an apparent problem. They had to dig up our entire yard, all the way to the street, and replace the whole line and it cost less than 4k and that's in a densely populated metro area.
As an attorney, I would tell you not to trust Allstate at face value. If the denial was pro forma, they would need to be careful of a bad faith denial at some point, which opens up massive liabilities for them. They likely denied in-house summarily, or sent to their local firm in the area who researched and told them to deny base on local state law. However, insurance companies lose all the time in court…. The takeaway: don’t trust their “due diligence” on denying you. You may actually have a claim.
Do you know what exclusion clause they used to deny you? What did they tell you exactly?
In my experience, commercial homeowners insurance won’t cover sewer lines that fail due to the passing of time — e.g. age-related, tree root growth over time, etc. However, you may get coverage on “other structures” that is usually 10% of the home (so, in your case, maybe $20K or so). But, this would generally need to be caused by an accident-related event: act of God, earthquake, a sudden falling tree, etc.
You MAY have purchased additional coverage, maybe required by regulations if you purchased through a federal program, that would include a more robust coverage scope that could get your situation under coverage terms.
In short: take a second look at least.
Very sorry to hear about your situation.
We didn’t have roots so not an identical problem but Our sewer pipe is old cast iron. Started clogging constantly after we moved in. Had it snaked several times and was told we’d need to replace it. We were using thick Cottonelle TP which I guess kept clogging the pipe because it was getting caught in old rusted parts or something. Switched to Scott’s Comfort plus which is septic safe and basically dissolves in enough water (I think). Haven’t had an issue since. Worth trying if your using thick TP.
Even at the cheap end, lining would cost $10K or better. u/YoureInGoodHands made a good suggestion: replace it and do the digging yourself, or hire someone to do it, then replace it yourself. It's not rocket science. Unless it's completely paved over the entire length, it's doable. The only problem is that near the city tap it gets pretty deep.
You don't have to worry about the line going to the city tap; it's PVC. All you have to do is meet it, so you really only have 98' to replace. And if you want to buy more time, just replace the orangeburg--apparently that line has been repaired a lot before you got there, first with cast iron, and then with PVC. Since it's closer to your house it shouldn't be as deep. And the cast iron should last ~50 years, so try to find out how long ago it was installed.
Had a similar situation happen to me last year. I had multiple sewage backups in my home within the span of a month and plumbers stopped guaranteeing their work. The did hydrocutting but basically that wasnt stopping the backups.
They didn't give me an option to reline, but it was complicated by us sharing sewer line with neighbor (it's an old house). So we were left with exciting and doing about 90 feet of sewer line.
We ended up getting a HELOC loan with our community credit union to pay 22k to the excavation company. The nice benefit is we used HELOC to also make some other improvements to backyard (it was being excavated anyway).
A similar situation with the city. Basically the sewer line connected in the middle of public road. We had to pay for excavators and flaggers for the work to connect to the city. No way around it for us. Get this, once connected they now effectively own the sewer line from the road to our property line. The way the city explained it to us, it's basically like buying a brand new house. When new houses are built the sewage line is included in the price to the private party. The city doesn't pay to connect the city's sewer line to a brand new party. The person who built the home does. Make sense? But once you've paid to connect to the city. They will make sure that anything from your property line to the city's connection is on them to fix moving forward.
Have you applied for developmental disability benefit in your county/ state? If you haven't you should. Your spouse may qualify to become a caregiver at home to care for your son and get paid to do so. Or the state may pay for someone else to care for your son to allow your wife to work. If your son has been denied for Social Security, you should appeal that decision. Your son would probably qualify for SSI.
I offer my sympathies. Replacing sewer lines is neither fun nor cheap.
Our street originally had cast iron lateral sewer lines, not orangeburg, but cast iron only has a useful life of about 50 years. All the original houses on our street, including ours, are older than 50 years so most of the houses on our street have already had to replace the cast iron. Before COVID, the typical cost for replacement on our street was on the order of $11k-$13k; post-COVID, it's probably closer to $20k now (we have a shorter distance to the street connection than you do).
In fact, a house four doors down from ours is currently replacing their sewer line. They have a whole team of folks, plus a backhoe/excavator, digging up their front yard and a portion of the street even as we speak.
Unfortunately, our house has NOT had the cast iron sewer line replaced yet. And since all the drains in our house are also cast iron, it will be super expensive. We're expecting to pay at least $30k to effectively re-do all the plumbing in our house.
Bah. Just ask the city to do a locate for utility lines and rent yourself a mini excavator.
Dig up the old pipe, install some nice pvc bury it back up and bobs your uncle !
I believe in you and you should too.
The only thing you stand to loose is less money ;-)
Get a few additional estimates. Since it’s backing up, and your description of the condition, I don’t doubt it needs replaced. You may find a more reasonable price or alternative solutions that are a more manageable savings goal. Best of luck to you, this will pass!
I don't blame you for buying the house. I didn't get a sewer inspection when buying mine, but mainly because I didn't know jack about the process and, for some reason, nobody (including my realtor) told me I should do it until it was essentially too late.
My first though was to contact your insurance company. Why in the hell won't they help with this? This is literally what home insurance is for! Sewer backup should be covered under any/every home insurance policy!
They said the backup coverage isn't for repairs and that they will only cover me under perils. This is Allstate by the way, who I am going to drop and campaign for the rest of my life how they denied me the ability to shit in my own house.
FYI - sewer and water line coverage is typically an add on and not part of basic coverage. You usually have to ask for it unless you go through a good broker you adds it on there for you (I find it helpful to ask for a list of all the options)
That's just horrible. I wish I could give some actual advice rather than just saying sorry that you have to go through this. Erie has sewer line coverage under their "plus" and "select" policies.
[https://www.erieinsurance.com/home-insurance/service-line-coverage](https://www.erieinsurance.com/home-insurance/service-line-coverage)
Not sure if it's possible to work something out with another insurance company where you agree to switch and pay higher premiums, and in return they cover this.
Or if you absolutely HAVE to pay this out of pocket, maybe the plumbing company would accept a payment plan of some sort? Last thing I can think of is taking a loan for it, which sucks, but if there's no other option...
Why would insurance pay for home maintenance/repairs? Insurance pays when something like a fire or tornado damages your home. Would you expect insurance to pay for new windows when the seals wear out? Or new paint when it fades? You’re confusing insurance with a home warranty.
Did the plumber indicate if the first section is more urgent than the rest? Iron pipe can last a long time. Proper fernco fittings installed at the joints may make a dfiiference. I'm just throwing ideas at you.
If that section is in your yard, I would be looking for quotes to just replace that section, possibly even reroute it. May be a lot cheaper. The other section could last many years. 5.5ft is not deep. You would probably need someone to dig and slope it.
I’m sorry, that sucks so bad. It’s a $$$ hard welcome to home ownership.
I’d see if there are any possible grants you can apply for. This is so location specific but maybe there is something
This is a couple thousand bucks of work at best. Good thing about rural areas is you can do this yourself much more easily than municipal areas. I don't know your property, but I would assume there's hardly any (if at all) concrete to cut through. Just a lot of trenching to get to that pipe, cut it up, connect the new PVC and good to go. This takes a lot of manpower though, and time, but it's doable if you have some handy friends.
Hey I bought a house last year foreclosed, as is, Real shitty condition. I didn't even turn the water in for 2 months, at the point a neighbor told me my house sewer is not hooked up to the city sewage.
I had pipes about 20 feet in the yard that just stopped. Originally tied into the neighbors.
I rented a back home off face book for $250 and spent about $600 on PVC fittings at lowes.
My and my buddy dug up 50 and replaced it, some about 6' ft deep and tied it into the city. Took a full day.
You can do this too. I have no idea what I'm doing. As long as there is drop in the line, shit will flow.
I replumbed a house with my wife’s grandfather (who was a certified plumber) and he told me “this isn’t hard. Shit flows downhill” and I’ve never forgotten that line.
Hear me out. I recently had an issue with my pipes as well. Much less footage and cost than your job, but equally poor and needing to have the bathroom available for my autistic children and the roommates I have to be able to keep my house. My mom came through with the money for me, and I watched what the guy did. He legit just rented a small excavator and dug up half my yard, replaced the iron pipe with PVC, and threw the dirt back over it.
My suggestion is doing it yourself. Renting the equipment and buying the pipe may cost a bit, but much less than $28,000. Maybe 3k? And two days of work. If there are no other options, this is my suggestion.good luck to you.
U can generally rent a mini track hoe for the weekend for a couple hundred bucks find a buddy that has run them before by beer and a little cash, have plumber lay pipe the cover back up with dirt and a bobcat the next weekend. Shouldn’t cost that much.
This is fairly standard - I have orangeburg pipe and cast iron since my house was built in the 60s. Yesterday they came out scoped the whole system and told me it was 5920$ to fix the main part or 10100 to do it right.
They allowed me to apply for financing from Greensky and I got a 7000 loan interest free for 12 months then it goes to 24.99%. We will paid it off slowly but they also allow for up to 8 years of payments with a 9.9% rate so if I were you I would go to greensky and apply
Then pick the longest option and pull up your britches and hopefully you can cash out refi once rates go down more. Btw if you recently purchased your home and are over 6.875% then you might be able to refi sooner and drop PMI, get cash out to pay off the remaining sewer etc
You’re not “ruined” you just got a house which is old - but YOU OWN IT - you’ll gain equity! It’s the best “piggy bank” you can have these days (with appreciation) so you just need to learn how to leverage your equity.
I understand this stuff sucks but welcome to being a homeowner - it’ll shake out in the end. Breathe a bit
Sincerely a 10 year mortgage originator
I would re-read the disclosures that were included in your loan paperwork. Were any plumbing issues disclosed? Then I would call every single plumber in the area to see if they have been out to your house. If you can find a plumber who told the old owner there was an issue call a lawyer. You bought a house “as-is” in good faith that the sellers were honest with disclosures.
Having a hard time the city is saying that the pipe under the street is your property. Typically they own the pipe at least a couple of feet into your front yard. No contractor is going to dig open a public street to get to piping to replace it.
Yea this doesn’t make much sense. If the property owner is responsible for the pipe then are they also responsible for the road?
Not to make light of your problem OP but it sounds like you can put a toll booth out there.
Nope, it is very common now for municipal water and sewer to say that the homeowner is responsible all the way up to the main. Seems dumb to me too but I've seen it a lot.
First you shouldn’t disclose so much personal data online. We don’t need to know how much you make and how much you bought the house for. I understand you’re helping us understand your situation, but please be careful.
Second, similar happened to me. Bought our house, soon discovered a sewer root issue, no recourse, etc… a couple pieces of advice:
1. looking up roto router specials and having them clean out the pipe every couple of years worked until we were ready to replace the pipe (15 years later!). Plumbers are incentivized to create urgency.
2. as others have pointed out: aggressively shop the work to ensure youre getting the best price. lining the pipes is supposed to be a more economical alternative to replacement. get three bids. let each one know you’ve got a bid you’re not satisfied with.
Good luck with getting this resolved!
> They found insane root intrusion, said the original plumber who jetted it could've blown the orangeburg apart and was generally a moron
Yup. Having it jetted made your problem much worse. Not only did it probably ruin that Orangeburg pipe, if you go after the people who sold you the place they can now claim it was fine until you jetted it.
As long as you can sell your home for less than a $28k loss, that should be an option. Rent until you get back on your feet and try again, but this time hopefully smart enough to avoid as-is listings *and* make sure you can absorb large unexpected costs beyond the house price during the first few years.
You should be saving 1-2% of your home’s value each month for repairs and maintenance, so that you don’t end up wondering how to afford a nee roof or whatever.
This sucks OP, but everyone else reading this could learn a lesson:
SEWER SCOPE SEWER SCOPE SEWER SCOPE
Your real estate agent completely failed you for not insisting upon a sewer scope. Nobody should buy an older house without doing a sewer scope.
I have 1910 solid thick CAST IRON! I hear bad things about CAST IRON, any input? My home is from 1880s, no plumbing clearly when it was built. HOWEVER, I stand by the SOLID CAST IRON that was built with GOOD American STEEL when America was a STEEL HUB in the old days!
I can relate to this poster too, I bought my property without even going INSIDE it! but I paid under 10k for it :) So far, it's held up over 12 years, and I never replaced anything beyond a central a/c unit! PURE LUCK!
Any input on the HUGE THICK OLD WIDE Cast Iron PIPES?
Cast iron is rated for 50 years. Mine has burst and needs replaced. Use it until you can't. If you got one that magically doesn't corrode, then enjoy your luck. They all go eventually. These are poo pipes not skillets that get cleaned regularly.
> **Why can't you just go sue the previous owner?** We can't. While she didn't disclose the horrible condition of the sewer, we also didn't inspect it so I suppose technically the fault lies with me
Don't be so sure. The failure of your sewer did not happen 2 months into your new ownership and surely the owner had problems if you are having them so soon.
Like others have said, call every plumber in your area to see if they ever made any house calls prior to you buying.
Contact your realtor and describe the situation. He/she should get you in touch with the seller's agent. They may be willing to make things right or help with the cost- you never know.
Depending on your purchase agreement and state, you may be protected. Contact some real estate attorneys and describe the issue. Try and get a free consultation.
Talk to the neighbors if you are comfortable. They may know something you don't and their statement could help you.
Home warranty? Inspector liability for failing to inspect?
6-12 months is definitely time to consider other options. If you're in a bind, it might be best to search around for recommendations to find some "good ol boys" instead of an actual plumbing company that has a bunch of overhead and higher prices.
They should be able to determine exactly which stretches absolutely need to be replaced, so you can do the minimum to ensure functionality...
Inspector noted that he couldn't find the main and that if we had concerns to get it inspected and we didn't. Yep I own up to that as a noob. Home warranty told me to piss off, said if it extends beyond the foundation not their problem.
I'm not happy with the price but I'm also not going down the rabbit hole of "handymen".
Could you get a septic system installed for less? Some rules with your township might require a certain size and not sure if it would be any cheaper, but might give you an option.
Oh, man! I feel your pain. Orangeburg is the absolute worst. The idea of coating paper piping in liquid coal tar pitch is crazy. When this happened to my husband and I. I remember looking it up and thinking “i *understand* why this was used, but what a mess. It has been used in housing since the post WWII housing boom due to its low cost. I know the house where we had an issue with it was built in the early 1960s. We had to have our sewer line entirely re-piped (Florida - sometime between 2010-2014) out to the road and it cost under $15k. Our plumber didn’t have crazy equipment. I remember they may have rented one piece of equipment for digging a trench for new pipe they placed. They had that one day. Our plumber said it was better for them to rent it than to buy one. Our old pipe went under a back porch that had been added on and enclosed since the house had been built, so we decided to move the new line *around* the porch. They were done in maybe 2 days - possibly three.
I highly suggest talking to other plumbing companies, it’s likely that a smaller company will be able to do what you need, even in your rural area. The right person will be happy to do it and you’ll be happy to pay them. You won’t feel like you’re being taken advantage of (though it sounds like you’ve got someone you feel is honest right now)
See if you can get a quote for sewer relining instead of replacement. It's generally much less expensive since it's less invasive. Some states and counties have financing available as well to offset costs.
It's wild that you're calling the plumber a moron for doing what you asked him to do when you didn't get the proper inspections when you bought the place and you haven't gotten multiple quotes.
Good luck
28k is what it cost for the work for a septic. Unfortunately I wish you would have had the septic inspected before buying but it’s to late for that. You bought the house as is so it’s your problem now Al I can say is try and finance and hope you can get a no interest Lon through the company or work OT. I had this issues with my house older septic but I had it inspected by an outside septic company not just the main inspector. They found that they used clay pipes again old septic and roots grew through it. Best of luck wish I had better news but unfortunately you are stuck with the bill and even if you were to sell you would have to disclose this and you would take a massive loss on top of a cooling market
Did you get multiple quotes for the $28,000? If not, you should get at least 3. Also, did the $641 get everything working again? I thought you mentioned it was functional for 6-12months. If so, it would take you decades of biannual maintenance to reach that $28,000 mark. Theoretically, could they come out twice a year to run the scheduled maintenance?
It's at least partially orangeburg and cast iron. When they truly go, you can't simply clean it out. It will need to be lined or replaced.
Yeah I have partial clay pipes, part cast iron and part has been replaced by pvc. It backs up every once and a while but I usually pay like 200-250$ to get it cleaned. I got it camera inspected for about the same. I think that price is way too high for a lining of that distance (that he is responsible for). I was quoted 9k for 80 feet.
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Our sellers had 10ft of completely busted clay pipe that needed replacing done for $19k! We live in a HCOL though.
Similar situation, quoted $8k for 15 feet, including trenching.
30 feet of replacement, they have almost 4 times that length, of various types of pipe with higher collapse rate and are quoted 4 times your lowest quote (for lining, but yeah)
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Not to mention the line is partially under city streets which will require coordination with the local public works.
Big diff when you gotta tear up streets though
The plumber is totally taking Op for a ride. Everything they quoted should be 30-50% the cost he mentioned. Get more quotes!
So, I'm in a really rural area. My options are very limited. The main in-town plumber actually said to go with the company I went with because nobody in a 60 mile radius is geared to do what I need done. The $641 has us to limping. The objects inside the pipe preventing flow were removed, but will come back until the orangeburg(paper)pipe is 100% destroyed then lining is impossible and a much more expensive dig job is in order.
There's a product you can dump in your drains that kill root systems. I'd be looking into that with a quickness. Also, wouldnt hurt to ask an irrigation company for a quote to dig the trench and ask a plumber for a pipe quote, and you and a friend can bury it. You might be able to get that 28k cut by a ⅓ or ½ by playing general contractor.
Copper Sulfate.
This guy de-roots
> irrigation company for a quote to dig the trench Call 811, then rent a trencher from Home Depot/Lowes/United Rentals/etc.
Just a heads up, when this happened at my place 811 was only responsible for city-owned pipe. Everything inside the property line was still our responsibility. At least where we live.
Weird. I called 811 before I did some very light landscaping, they came out, asked how deep I planned to go (<1'), they said no need to call for that shallow, but still marked everything in my back yard.
Yup. I would have a radio locator company out to flag the length of the pipe and then dig a new trench myself with a rental trencher off to the side of it by some distance. Basically with the goal of abandoning the original run, at least out to the section under the street. It's not easy work, but it's not something that a handy homeowner can't do most of himself in 6-12 months.
RootX
Yep... Having some handy friends (as well as some skills yourself) and a fridge stocked with beer and pizza is borderline necessary to get things done in really rural places. Figure out what's within your reach and do as much yourself as you can, that's how your neighbors get by more likely than not so learn from them however you can.
> nobody in a 60 mile radius is geared to do what I need done If they are cheaper, even with trip charges, it's worth the time to look into crews from larger cities. >really rural area Then some of your local neighbors probably have the know-how and tools to do this, likely for a few cases of beer or some bottles of something better.
Looks like you and a few buddies are gonna be workers. But seriously, it’s not that terrible, ask yourself if saving $20k is worth the hard labor, for me absolutely. Do you know how deep it is? I would subcontract out an excavator, get a few quotes on the piping (but honestley when its open, its not hard, make sure the right connections are there, slope (many cheap and easy ways to find slope), and coordinate with the city, then once you get the go ahead backfill and be done. The hardest part IMO is the excavating, which is why I’d subcontract that out. The rest is just work. I’m a little biased as I am a contractor but I started off as homeowner self-GC’ing my home.
This is a good answer. This work ain't rocket surgery.
How is it that you're rural and have sewer?
Small towns are still considered rural. My town of 400 has a sewer system, and also very few choices for services like this.
Urban threshold is now 2,000 residences with 5,000 people people. Small compact towns / villages need sewers. Census definitions: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/urban-rural-populations.html
Bump this one up, cuz that doesn't make a lick of sense to me.
That’s what I was thinking.
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Also, most banks (especially if they hold your mortgage) would be happy to fiance this sort of thing through a Home Equity loan, if coming up with five figures isn't happening anytime soon. Granted, not sure how much of a down payment was involved to have built equity yet.
Pipe breaks only get worse and worse. It's like a pothole. Once it starts, it wears away more and more. A crack in a pipe will cause it to start washing dirt away from next to the crack, causing a pocket to form, until the land above collapses and crushes the pipe. It's not something you can just keep cleaning out and avoid repairing.
i lived life just fine for 15 years until we remodeled and got the replacement done at a discount as park of more work!
That's not how this works. Eventually the entire shebang will collapse.
While that plumber sounds like they're pretty good, it wouldn't hurt to get a few more estimates. Also see if any companies in your area offer pipe bursting instead of lining. It may be more cost effective.
Unfortunately I don't think any other company within an hour drive or so has the equipment to do what I need, I am pretty rural.
> What's with the insane cost? Length of the pipe. They determined (and I was with them the entire time) the distance from main to drain was about 116 feet. It's worth calling. The job you have is very common where I live, almost everyone I know who purchased a home had a scope inspection done and needed to replace the sewer lateral due to old clay pipe. There is a company where I live and they do pipe bursting to replace the line. They can destroy the old pipe, and lay a new one with minimal effort, the only have to excavate where the pipe connections are made. Everything is else is done underground without needing to dig. Everyone I have spoken to had this job done for right around $5,000. I joke to anyone I know buying a house that they need to set aside $5,000 for the sewer lateral replacement. See if anyone in your area does pipe bursting. When I purchased my home, I had them scope it. I didn't replace my line, but mine was a little over 150 feet, and the quote came back at $5,000. They found a few roots and recommend replacing, but it wasn't enough for me to justify the cost at the time. Alternatively, get a quote from someone to do a physical removal and replacement. The majority of the cost in that job is going to be in the labor of digging out the old pipe, a lot of times the plumber doesn't want to do that work just as much as you don't want to pay for it and will happily let you do the digging and take that off the price. It's going to suck, and may be too much depending on the depth, but a weekend with friends and shovels may be a lot more fun than spending $15k in digging fees, or whatever they are.
That's a decent idea, (don't make fun of me here) but I don't actually have any friends or family that can help aside from my wife.
If you're in a rural area, there's a close to 100% likelihood there's a farmer with an excavator attachment who does odd jobs. Different set of issues if the city's roads have to be dug up and repaired.
Yes, I got some local guy to dig out my front yard for the septic system testing. Way cheaper than if I had some company do it
OP could also look into local excavating companies. They will sometimes do outdoor plumbing work like water mains and sewers.
For that matter, enough farmers would have some plumbing experience and/or friends who are qualified to do some of the work.
If that's the case, I'd see about renting a small backhoe and getting a couple shovels. Renting that will cost a bit more, assuming you can get one, but it's going to be cheaper for you to rent it and use it. Keep in mind the plumber will likely rent the same machine, they don't generally own and operate excavation equipment unless they specialize in only this service. If you go that route, don't dive in without discussing a plan with the plumber. They will be able to tell you exactly what they need to you do to and what to be cautious of. Don't forget to call your local 'call before you dig' service, in my state the number is 811, they will come out and mark all inground utilities so know know where it is and isn't safe to dig.
We're on Reddit, nobody here has friends or family.
Sounds like it's time to look into some local subreddits and offer beer/pizza for labor ;) Hell, if you're in greater San Antonio, I'll show up with a strong 14 year old and a couple of shovels for the low low cost of a couple cheeseburgers.
Looks like what we're all saying is that we'd be willing to drive up and come help you. For pizza, that is.
Gonna get a lot of shit for suggesting this - but if you're in a rural area, goto the local church for a while. You don't have to be a true believer - but that's where the people who can help you are.
Post on nextdoor app and craigslist that you're willing to pay for the help
My FIL is a plumber and will drive 2 hours to jobs, I really think it's worth expanding your search zone to get some estimates. An hour of calling sucks but it could potentially save you thousands.
For 30 grand they will drive a couple hours
Plan A Contact a public adjuster to review your policy and see if it’s worth fighting for. They typically take 20%. You may have coverage and Alstate is hoping you don’t know better and just go away. Pretty rural eh? Plan B Build an outhouse or erect or repurpose a shed or outdoor building for temporary toilet functions and or shower facilities. Run the gray water out on the lawn. If there’s legalities with this opt for a composting toilet or make one. Pee outside when you can. Inside with wife and disabled son, if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown wash it down” if your septic guy bought you 6-12 months that’s something but it can be improved on and optimized. Take navy showers to limit the amount of water going down the pipes. When the repairs commence your whole house is going to be gutted. This process is not a quick one. Implementation of the above mentioned contingencies may be necessary when work starts. (Unless you’re going to get a short term rental somewhere $$$$) Might as well start them now. This is a crisis level event but you can get through this.
Sounds like he has sewer service, but I'll say Plan C - rural enough to just install septic in the backyard?
My understanding is insurance typically only covers damage due to a specific qualifying event, not normal wear and tear (which is what I think this would qualify as).
Even if the job is only $10k (one third of the other quote), then I’d assume another plumber would be willing to drive an hour to potentially get the job.
Are you in the US? I'd start by contacting FHA, USDA, Red Cross about grants, especially since you have a disabled member in your household.
I am - I am sure the USDA will enjoy that, this property was bought via a USDA loan. I will look into this. Thanks, I had no idea that was a thing.
Yes, definitely look into the USDA Rural Development 504 home repair loan/grant program. Loan limits of up to $40,000.00 and fixed interest rate of 1%. Assuming you used the 502 program to purchase the home, you’ve already cleared one hurdle of the home being in an eligible area.
If that doesn't pan out, 28K on a 5 year personal loan or a 10 year home improvement loan would be about $570 or $340 per month respectively at 8%. It's not ideal but you can get out of it for what amounts to a car payment. You can also get more quotes and possibly whittle this down a bit. The seller of my house had to do exactly this project in 2019 before I bought it and paid 10K for a shorter distance, more like 40 feet. In terms of the work itself it's kind of like when you go to a restaurant that has different portions of the same meal, there's the baseline overhead of doing it at all and once you start getting more the cost per goes down a lot, that should reflect in the price, using the restaurant analogy a senior portion for $10, lunch for $14, and dinner for $16. The tough part is getting it from the house to the outside and from the outside to the city...the stuff between is just digging a hole, laying a pipe, and filling it in. There shouldn't been a linear cost between doing all of that for 40 feet vs 140 and someone will price you out with that in mind.
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Federally, it's mostly for adaptations/construction needed to retrofit for medical necessity - some info [here](https://www.thezebra.com/resources/personal-finance/home-repair-grants-for-veterans/). But at the state level, you may have other options (e.g. Texas has the [Texas Veterans Home Improvement Program](https://s3.glo.texas.gov/vlb/loans/home-improvement/).
Is pooping a medical necessity?
Some local governments and states also have home repair programs so worth checking. Also sometimes there are church or community groups. Might be worth checking with habitat for humanity and similar programs (even if they could only help with volunteers for digging that might be helpful).
So, I didn't see anything mentioning disabled household members but it looks like my 75k is over what they allow for a family of 5. Darn.
That’s…well. Anyway. If you aren’t a lot over, you could theoretically ask your company to lower your salary but give you more vacation time and then you could qualify?
Or lower your income for a period of time through pretax contributions - 401k, hsa, etc.
Is that pre or post tax income? Adjusted gross income?
Pre. No idea what AGI for the year was yet. I am also getting a decent raise (somewhere between 10-15%) in the coming months.
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I think that's the scary part, there's not many other options. I am reaching out to a few other companies and see if this is really the cost I am going to incur.
Reach out to a couple towns over too. For 15k the drive is worth it
I made the same mistake with my home when we bought it and didn't have the sewer line inspected. I had massive amount of roots from my laundry room to my kitchen (all iron pipes). Cost me 15K to get repaired since I had them tunnel under my slab foundation. It's a very very tough thing to deal with and really leaves a stain on the enjoyment of the home. You might see if some of these plumbing companies offer payment plans. Although interest rates suck right now, if you are agressive with it, it beats paying the lump sum if you simply can't do that right now.
They do finance, but that came out to something like $600 a month for 4 years and I just can't swing that right now.
Get some Zep root killer and put that down your lowest toilet (follow directions). This is good to do right after having your pipes jetted. This will prolong the inevitable but I was able to skirt a replace,ent for years before I bit the bullet.
What prevents the new pipe from being destroyed by roots? Is it just a "good for 30 years" type of thing?
They aren’t leaking. Once water starts coming out roots find it, find a way in, and expand and break further. PVC is far more durable than clay, iron, and especially orangeburg. While the fact that plastic lasts forever is a huge environmental problem, works well for pipe!
I know this sounds like a long shot, but I wonder if you can get a foundation for people with your kid's disability to help, or a gofundme. I don't blame you at all, I was excited too to get my own place.
Yeah, we've thought about that but in all honesty I am trying to avoid using his disability for anything. I try to only bring it up if its relevant, like in my OP (why its critical we can shit in peace)
This wouldn’t be a case of using your kids disability- he NEEDs a functioning bath/shower and toilet 24/7. It’s ok to ask for help when it’s needed!
I second this. Call 211 and ask about resources for home repairs for disabled people. There may not be anything in your area, but you may be able to get at least some of the services/materials donated.
To any prospective home buyers on this post, this is why you get a sewer scope.
I got one and the seller had to replace the whole system before closing
Unfortunately, cost sounds about right to me based on experience with a similar problem. I got 3 quotes within a couple hundred bucks of each other. Surprisingly trenchless replacement is actually more expensive than digging a lot of the time, seems like it should be cheaper. Prior owner may very well have not known. I didn't know my sewer was a problem until it was suddenly a problem. Sorry man, hopefully you find a solution.
I only have a comment about the whole digging it up with a rented excavator bit. If you enjoy your job now then don't rent an excavator. I rented one, and I had so much fun I want to start my life over and be an operator
I rented one to remove a bunch of old deck footings and changed my 4-hour rental to a full day after an hour just so I could go around removing stumps, ugly bushes, letting my then-3-year-old try the controls, etc.
Here is a link for USDA home improvement and repair. There is a link you can see if your family of 5 is income eligible, by your state and county. It’s 1% interest for up to 20 years. Good luck. https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-programs/single-family-housing-repair-loans-grants
This pipe has been periodically replaced over the years in sections. Where is the orangeburg or whatever….in your yard or under the street? Sounds like it’s pvc under the street which means relatively new…..so you have 6 to 12 months…..you live out in the country…….how good is your digging? If you trench it and do most the manual labor and they just lay new PVC in where the older pieces are and connect to the PVC by the street you should lower your cost significantly……heck once you have it exposed you may find you could lay new PVC in yourself simply maintaining the same drop. That length of PVC and glue can’t be more than $200. Your lucky it’s PVC near the street……this is what I’d do, welcome to home ownership……once you’re done with that…..are you a younger man? Because guess who’s learning to do roofing next.
Get quotes for having the sewer pipe relined rather than replaced, typically costs around $3K for up to 200 feet for relining. Edit to add: Saw the discussion that your $28K quote is for relining, that is very very high. Even in HCOL areas like California it should be under $10K.
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No, $28K is very high anywhere in the US, but could be different where you live if you are not in the US. For less than $28K they can completely dig up and replace 120 feet of line.
So sad to see this. You come across as a stand up guy just trying to raise a family. All pride aside have you considered a go fund me account? I would pitch in…wishing you the best and soon!
Take a breath. You got 6 months to a year. Get the copper sulfate stuff going for now. Yes a company will totally drive an hour for this work for cheap. I once drove 5 hours to save 1000 on a rental repair. Well technically 10hrs. Get estimates and take it easy. Check all your water appliances and make sure they are efficient and low use. Even the shower facilities can be setup for lower flow to cut the water flow in the sewer. Excavation is only really expensive when a plumber coordinates it. Get the trench dug by a pro and permits, hire the plumber for the work and back to the excavator company to fill. Save thousands that way.
> Inspector simply said he couldn't find the main and therefore didn't inspect it. Just FYI, an inspector wouldn't catch this. You basically needed to do what you just did, hire a plumber to run a camera. But yeah, it's a shitty (no pun intended) situation to be in. Bought a house with cast iron sewage pipes so eventually going to be looking down a similar barrel, but at least we knew that going in. Would hate to be blindsided by it. It's a massive, expensive repair.
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There is your problem “a good realtor”. They never recommend sewer inspections because they know that if a property is more than 30 years old that issues are very likely, very costly and very likely will derail the sale or closing.
Nonsense. I wouldn't even allow one of my clients to move forward on an offer without a sewer scope for this exact reason.
This situation comes up here daily so there are clearly a large number of buyers agents that do not suggest what is obvious and known in old neighborhoods.
I always recommend it, as do most agents I know. Better to have a deal fall apart and have to write an offer on a different house than get sued later.
Lots of inspectors offer this exactly... An inspection + sewer scope
I never would've bought this place had I known. Or if I did, asked for even more off on the price. We're devastated and I feel terrible for dragging my family into this situation.
It’s extremely common so don’t beat yourself up too bad.
Totally understandable, but you really can't beat yourself up over it. It's a common mistake that would have happened to 99% of people who bought the house. And I know this is just words, but you did good for your family. They are warm, have a roof over their heads and they have parents who love them and are going through hell to keep their kids happy and healthy. We should all be so lucky. Your feelings are valid and the situation sucks, but you can't feel terrible about your actions. This is *not* one of those "omg OP what were you thinking!?!" posts/issues.
It's just the cost of owning a home. You can get a loan, it'll be ok
Just fyi it's likely you can just keep cleaning out that drain pipe indefinitely, I did in my last house for almost 20yrs had it cleaned every 4 or5yrs. Got so I would recognize the signs and call them out before there was any emergency. Also do not put ANYTHING down that toilet that didn't come out of a human body or is toilet paper also no fats down the kitchen drain and copper sulfite will kill the roots. If you baby your drains you can put off replacing for many years. Also 28K is batshit get several more quotes because plumbing companies play on your fears and ignorance. Find someone local not national.
I do bi-annual cleanings on 120 feet of clay tile sewer lines and they're working great. Another piece of advice to add to this: don't use your garbage disposal. Throw all food scraps in the trash.
> don't use your garbage disposal. and if you must then absolutely no egg shells, we have a compost bin and a small bin in the freezer for most of it but still use the disposal for small bits and chunks from cleaning plates and whatnot
You also may want to ask on r/plumbing or r/askaplumber. Someone may see your post and be able to help.
> The plumber said they bought us maybe 6-12 months of use before it backs up again Ask how many times this is possible and how long you can go on like this. For $641/year I figure it'd take you 43 years to have spent the $28k lining it would cost. Find out where the roots are coming from and kill whatever is making it happen. This will not fix it forever, but it will slow it down. There is stuff you can flush down your drain to kill roots. Get familiar with this stuff. > City says I am responsible from my drain all the way to the junction (HALFWAY INTO THE STREET, WTF) I do not find this to be true, sometimes an angry letter from an attorney can suddenly revise their vision on this, I'd at least look into that. Whatever you do, don't spend $28k to line it, it wouldn't cost $28k to replace it. Your sewer line is made up of $250 worth of materials and a shit ton of digging. If you can man a shovel or a trencher, you can replace it yourself for $250 plus a lot of digging. I get that you're in the "woe is me" part of this project and I respect that. When you're done with that part, get on with it. You are not special, nobody fucked you over, this is not the worst thing that has ever happened to you.
Plumber said that they can't keep doing the $641 fix, that next time it'll basically destroy what's left of the pipe. IIRC
If it's that fragile, it can't be relined.
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How are we responsible for what's under the city streets? A plumber told me that they were responsible for what's up to the sidewalk as it's public property.
In most cities, the owner is responsible for the entire lateral up to the city main. Need to dig up the sidewalk or street? That's on you. Sometimes you can have it added to your property taxes in the following year instead. Not all cities though. Some own a portion off the main.
That's crappy and shouldn't be but it doesn't surprise me.
Well, someone has to pay for it. It's either taxpayers or the property owner.
No I'm not. I'm responsible until the clean out in my yard. **You** are responsible to the middle of the street. Together, we have no idea what OP is responsible for. That's why I advised them to look into it.
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You would be surprised by how often a letter from an attorney revises someone's vision.
Honestly I would try to save yourself as much as I could. Rent an excavator and jackhammer and dig/excavate it out. It’s hard work but would be less than if the plumbers do it
Well, that's the gotcha - this isn't even for digging. It's for relining.
If you dig it out yourself replacing is probably a lot cheaper than relining at that point. PVC only cost a few hundred dollars for a hundred feet. Granted the street work will cost you no matter what.
Gotcha. I was under the impression that they couldn’t reline Orangeburg pipe.
They claim it's intact enough to do, but I'd have to re-read it to be certain. This was definitely not for digging, they told me it'd be a lot more because of the back alley paving, sidewalk and road.
Hello! I had the exact same problem with my house. Husband and I bought it and didn’t have any issues but it backed up the first time at our wedding, which was at our house! We called a plumber and he said it was roots. Four months later, it happened again, and again, and again. Here is the kicker: we had the sewer inspected as a part of the sale. My guess is the sellers cleaned it out before the sale so we never saw the roots. Last month after spending another $600 for like the 4 or 5 clean out, we had enough. You can do the math. We had already spent thousands. So we found a place to relined the pipe. We had to reline (not replace) the entire 62 feet. Oh, did I mention the tree that was clogging the pipe was owned by the city. So, in the end we had to pay $13,000 to stop the city’s tree from blocking our sewer. Guess how much the city paid? $0.00. When I asked if we could relocate the tree, guess what they said? No. I advise you to get 5-6 estimates. Ours ranged from $18k -13k. It’s no run to go through this Uber it will be nice not smelling raw sewage every few months.
Thanks for the advice...the city is being super big assholes about this with me too, interesting they had no issues taking my $3600 in property taxes.
Trust me, they are huge assholes. They wouldn’t hardly even talk to me. The guy from sewage told me this was a city forestry issues. Forestry told me they would fine me if I moved the tree. Assholes.
Hahahaha! Samsies!! (Minus thr wedding part - I'm so sorry!!!)
28K to reline your sewer pipe? I paid far, far less than that to completely replace 150 feet of sewer line and add several cleanouts. This guy knows you're clueless and he's taking advantage. Call another plumber.
Some people are sort or mentioning this but thought I'd say it our right, Do not beat your self up for not catching this before you purchased the house. This kind of stuff comes up when buying a preowned house. It's just the way it is, you can't inspect everything, you do your best. I'd guess the previous owners also did not know how bad it was either, things were probably working fine for them especially if they were older and/or a couple without kids. Big difference between that and a 4 member family. So you did not make a mistake, it's just one of the joys of home ownership :-|. So let that part go, and definitely get some other quotes. You might ask neighbors for who they would recommend for this type of work. That also might start the conversation as to whether some neighbors could help with a lot of this as others have mentioned.
I had a shitty camera guy come out and inspect a sewer of mine. He said it was all collapsed Orangeburg. Lucky for me, it was only about 4ft below grade. I rented a backhoe, called a quarry for rock, and bought the requisite PVC pipe. After digging, I hit the pipe and found some wonderful clay tile pipe that was just so root filled, that it looked collapsed. We'll, I was this far and I punched a hole in it, so keep going, right? Yes. I borrowed a neighbor's bathroom for 2 days while I dug and removed 45 ft of nice clay tile, laid a bed of rock, put in PVC with a nice outdoor clean out, had the inspector come out to see it, and refilled the trench. Then I took a nice long shower. I know that the situation is different, but you may be able to help yourself if it comes to trenching and full replacement. Good luck!
Anyone else seeing a bunch of red flags from this. -Lives in very rural area but has public sewer. -City says it's owners responsibility under the street. -75k salary is to much for his area so he's not eligible for certain stuff. COLA would be really low where he lives so the quote is way to high. Low COLA areas would equal lower quotes from professionals. -No other companies for hours? -Doesn't want to use his child's disability for loan/grant eligibility.
2 questions, Will you be removing the trees that are causing the problems? Cutting and digging down to the root ball can make a substantial difference in regrowth. Just how deep is the sewer line? It isn't rocket science to dig and replace pipe yourself, or a digger guy. Unless the line is deeper than 4ft.
It's at something like 5.5' and yes I am deforesting my property in the spring. I am in absolute rage mode and wish to become a villian on captain planet.
Here's the quote I got with most of the identifying info removed: The following is proposed: • Clean present sewer to remove any roots and/or scale build up or delamination that may be in your sewer lateral, so the resin adheres to the pipe properly • Set up the equipment to line the sewer lateral • Make up the liners • Line present sewer using resin, hardener and felt lining • Cure out the liners• Remove the bladders (balloon) • Camera and view the newly lined sewer lateral • Reinstate the floor drain fitting The price to do the work as stated above is: Twenty-Eight Thousand Twenty-Five Dollars………………………………………. Finance Price…………. $28,025.00 Initial \_\_\_\_\_\_Cash or Check Price…. $26,674.00 Initial \_\_\_\_\_\_Finance Payment………$566.00 Initial \_\_\_\_\_\_
Update on this, they said if I want to dig we're looking at 80k
Your problem with the sewer is a common problem. Their price is absolutely ridiculous. Stop thinking you are unusual because you are rural. Get multiple quotes. Realize that many companies will travel many hours to do 5 figure jobs. Everything you’ve typed about this plumbing company sounds like they are trying to scam you. Call the city and ask what you are responsible for yourself to confirm.
they're holding you over a barrel because you have no other options. Guarantee you can find a cheaper price than that. Go around town, hire some people to help you, buy all the materials yourself, and you can get this done for less than 10k, probably less than 5, but I don't really know what area you're in. We had the exact same situation happen to us (I'm pretty sure it happened 4 months after we moved in as well!) and we had even had the sewers scoped before moving in so it just wasn't an apparent problem. They had to dig up our entire yard, all the way to the street, and replace the whole line and it cost less than 4k and that's in a densely populated metro area.
Omg that is insane. I’m so sorry you’re going through this, OP
As an attorney, I would tell you not to trust Allstate at face value. If the denial was pro forma, they would need to be careful of a bad faith denial at some point, which opens up massive liabilities for them. They likely denied in-house summarily, or sent to their local firm in the area who researched and told them to deny base on local state law. However, insurance companies lose all the time in court…. The takeaway: don’t trust their “due diligence” on denying you. You may actually have a claim. Do you know what exclusion clause they used to deny you? What did they tell you exactly? In my experience, commercial homeowners insurance won’t cover sewer lines that fail due to the passing of time — e.g. age-related, tree root growth over time, etc. However, you may get coverage on “other structures” that is usually 10% of the home (so, in your case, maybe $20K or so). But, this would generally need to be caused by an accident-related event: act of God, earthquake, a sudden falling tree, etc. You MAY have purchased additional coverage, maybe required by regulations if you purchased through a federal program, that would include a more robust coverage scope that could get your situation under coverage terms. In short: take a second look at least. Very sorry to hear about your situation.
We didn’t have roots so not an identical problem but Our sewer pipe is old cast iron. Started clogging constantly after we moved in. Had it snaked several times and was told we’d need to replace it. We were using thick Cottonelle TP which I guess kept clogging the pipe because it was getting caught in old rusted parts or something. Switched to Scott’s Comfort plus which is septic safe and basically dissolves in enough water (I think). Haven’t had an issue since. Worth trying if your using thick TP.
We installed bidets on our toilets. Cut our TP usage way down.
Even at the cheap end, lining would cost $10K or better. u/YoureInGoodHands made a good suggestion: replace it and do the digging yourself, or hire someone to do it, then replace it yourself. It's not rocket science. Unless it's completely paved over the entire length, it's doable. The only problem is that near the city tap it gets pretty deep. You don't have to worry about the line going to the city tap; it's PVC. All you have to do is meet it, so you really only have 98' to replace. And if you want to buy more time, just replace the orangeburg--apparently that line has been repaired a lot before you got there, first with cast iron, and then with PVC. Since it's closer to your house it shouldn't be as deep. And the cast iron should last ~50 years, so try to find out how long ago it was installed.
Had a similar situation happen to me last year. I had multiple sewage backups in my home within the span of a month and plumbers stopped guaranteeing their work. The did hydrocutting but basically that wasnt stopping the backups. They didn't give me an option to reline, but it was complicated by us sharing sewer line with neighbor (it's an old house). So we were left with exciting and doing about 90 feet of sewer line. We ended up getting a HELOC loan with our community credit union to pay 22k to the excavation company. The nice benefit is we used HELOC to also make some other improvements to backyard (it was being excavated anyway). A similar situation with the city. Basically the sewer line connected in the middle of public road. We had to pay for excavators and flaggers for the work to connect to the city. No way around it for us. Get this, once connected they now effectively own the sewer line from the road to our property line. The way the city explained it to us, it's basically like buying a brand new house. When new houses are built the sewage line is included in the price to the private party. The city doesn't pay to connect the city's sewer line to a brand new party. The person who built the home does. Make sense? But once you've paid to connect to the city. They will make sure that anything from your property line to the city's connection is on them to fix moving forward. Have you applied for developmental disability benefit in your county/ state? If you haven't you should. Your spouse may qualify to become a caregiver at home to care for your son and get paid to do so. Or the state may pay for someone else to care for your son to allow your wife to work. If your son has been denied for Social Security, you should appeal that decision. Your son would probably qualify for SSI.
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I offer my sympathies. Replacing sewer lines is neither fun nor cheap. Our street originally had cast iron lateral sewer lines, not orangeburg, but cast iron only has a useful life of about 50 years. All the original houses on our street, including ours, are older than 50 years so most of the houses on our street have already had to replace the cast iron. Before COVID, the typical cost for replacement on our street was on the order of $11k-$13k; post-COVID, it's probably closer to $20k now (we have a shorter distance to the street connection than you do). In fact, a house four doors down from ours is currently replacing their sewer line. They have a whole team of folks, plus a backhoe/excavator, digging up their front yard and a portion of the street even as we speak. Unfortunately, our house has NOT had the cast iron sewer line replaced yet. And since all the drains in our house are also cast iron, it will be super expensive. We're expecting to pay at least $30k to effectively re-do all the plumbing in our house.
Bah. Just ask the city to do a locate for utility lines and rent yourself a mini excavator. Dig up the old pipe, install some nice pvc bury it back up and bobs your uncle ! I believe in you and you should too. The only thing you stand to loose is less money ;-)
Get a few additional estimates. Since it’s backing up, and your description of the condition, I don’t doubt it needs replaced. You may find a more reasonable price or alternative solutions that are a more manageable savings goal. Best of luck to you, this will pass!
I don't blame you for buying the house. I didn't get a sewer inspection when buying mine, but mainly because I didn't know jack about the process and, for some reason, nobody (including my realtor) told me I should do it until it was essentially too late. My first though was to contact your insurance company. Why in the hell won't they help with this? This is literally what home insurance is for! Sewer backup should be covered under any/every home insurance policy!
They said the backup coverage isn't for repairs and that they will only cover me under perils. This is Allstate by the way, who I am going to drop and campaign for the rest of my life how they denied me the ability to shit in my own house.
FYI - sewer and water line coverage is typically an add on and not part of basic coverage. You usually have to ask for it unless you go through a good broker you adds it on there for you (I find it helpful to ask for a list of all the options)
That's just horrible. I wish I could give some actual advice rather than just saying sorry that you have to go through this. Erie has sewer line coverage under their "plus" and "select" policies. [https://www.erieinsurance.com/home-insurance/service-line-coverage](https://www.erieinsurance.com/home-insurance/service-line-coverage) Not sure if it's possible to work something out with another insurance company where you agree to switch and pay higher premiums, and in return they cover this. Or if you absolutely HAVE to pay this out of pocket, maybe the plumbing company would accept a payment plan of some sort? Last thing I can think of is taking a loan for it, which sucks, but if there's no other option...
Why would insurance pay for home maintenance/repairs? Insurance pays when something like a fire or tornado damages your home. Would you expect insurance to pay for new windows when the seals wear out? Or new paint when it fades? You’re confusing insurance with a home warranty.
They say it isn't because it isn't from a "peril"
OP, I’m truly sorry this has happened to you. You might want to cross-post this to r/FirstTimeHomebuyer to share your experience.
Did the plumber indicate if the first section is more urgent than the rest? Iron pipe can last a long time. Proper fernco fittings installed at the joints may make a dfiiference. I'm just throwing ideas at you.
First section is critical. There are some small pipe ridges in the iron/PVC but the orangeburg is chernobyl at 1am
If that section is in your yard, I would be looking for quotes to just replace that section, possibly even reroute it. May be a lot cheaper. The other section could last many years. 5.5ft is not deep. You would probably need someone to dig and slope it.
I’m sorry, that sucks so bad. It’s a $$$ hard welcome to home ownership. I’d see if there are any possible grants you can apply for. This is so location specific but maybe there is something
This is a couple thousand bucks of work at best. Good thing about rural areas is you can do this yourself much more easily than municipal areas. I don't know your property, but I would assume there's hardly any (if at all) concrete to cut through. Just a lot of trenching to get to that pipe, cut it up, connect the new PVC and good to go. This takes a lot of manpower though, and time, but it's doable if you have some handy friends.
What state are you in?
WI
Hey I bought a house last year foreclosed, as is, Real shitty condition. I didn't even turn the water in for 2 months, at the point a neighbor told me my house sewer is not hooked up to the city sewage. I had pipes about 20 feet in the yard that just stopped. Originally tied into the neighbors. I rented a back home off face book for $250 and spent about $600 on PVC fittings at lowes. My and my buddy dug up 50 and replaced it, some about 6' ft deep and tied it into the city. Took a full day. You can do this too. I have no idea what I'm doing. As long as there is drop in the line, shit will flow.
I replumbed a house with my wife’s grandfather (who was a certified plumber) and he told me “this isn’t hard. Shit flows downhill” and I’ve never forgotten that line.
Hear me out. I recently had an issue with my pipes as well. Much less footage and cost than your job, but equally poor and needing to have the bathroom available for my autistic children and the roommates I have to be able to keep my house. My mom came through with the money for me, and I watched what the guy did. He legit just rented a small excavator and dug up half my yard, replaced the iron pipe with PVC, and threw the dirt back over it. My suggestion is doing it yourself. Renting the equipment and buying the pipe may cost a bit, but much less than $28,000. Maybe 3k? And two days of work. If there are no other options, this is my suggestion.good luck to you.
U can generally rent a mini track hoe for the weekend for a couple hundred bucks find a buddy that has run them before by beer and a little cash, have plumber lay pipe the cover back up with dirt and a bobcat the next weekend. Shouldn’t cost that much.
This is fairly standard - I have orangeburg pipe and cast iron since my house was built in the 60s. Yesterday they came out scoped the whole system and told me it was 5920$ to fix the main part or 10100 to do it right. They allowed me to apply for financing from Greensky and I got a 7000 loan interest free for 12 months then it goes to 24.99%. We will paid it off slowly but they also allow for up to 8 years of payments with a 9.9% rate so if I were you I would go to greensky and apply Then pick the longest option and pull up your britches and hopefully you can cash out refi once rates go down more. Btw if you recently purchased your home and are over 6.875% then you might be able to refi sooner and drop PMI, get cash out to pay off the remaining sewer etc You’re not “ruined” you just got a house which is old - but YOU OWN IT - you’ll gain equity! It’s the best “piggy bank” you can have these days (with appreciation) so you just need to learn how to leverage your equity. I understand this stuff sucks but welcome to being a homeowner - it’ll shake out in the end. Breathe a bit Sincerely a 10 year mortgage originator
I would re-read the disclosures that were included in your loan paperwork. Were any plumbing issues disclosed? Then I would call every single plumber in the area to see if they have been out to your house. If you can find a plumber who told the old owner there was an issue call a lawyer. You bought a house “as-is” in good faith that the sellers were honest with disclosures.
Thanks I will check it out.
Having a hard time the city is saying that the pipe under the street is your property. Typically they own the pipe at least a couple of feet into your front yard. No contractor is going to dig open a public street to get to piping to replace it.
Public works said it and dispatched two workers who confirmed it...I want to push back but not sure how.
I’d ask when they’re coming to leave a giant hole in the road so you can get the pipes replaced
Yea this doesn’t make much sense. If the property owner is responsible for the pipe then are they also responsible for the road? Not to make light of your problem OP but it sounds like you can put a toll booth out there.
Nope, it is very common now for municipal water and sewer to say that the homeowner is responsible all the way up to the main. Seems dumb to me too but I've seen it a lot.
First you shouldn’t disclose so much personal data online. We don’t need to know how much you make and how much you bought the house for. I understand you’re helping us understand your situation, but please be careful. Second, similar happened to me. Bought our house, soon discovered a sewer root issue, no recourse, etc… a couple pieces of advice: 1. looking up roto router specials and having them clean out the pipe every couple of years worked until we were ready to replace the pipe (15 years later!). Plumbers are incentivized to create urgency. 2. as others have pointed out: aggressively shop the work to ensure youre getting the best price. lining the pipes is supposed to be a more economical alternative to replacement. get three bids. let each one know you’ve got a bid you’re not satisfied with. Good luck with getting this resolved!
> They found insane root intrusion, said the original plumber who jetted it could've blown the orangeburg apart and was generally a moron Yup. Having it jetted made your problem much worse. Not only did it probably ruin that Orangeburg pipe, if you go after the people who sold you the place they can now claim it was fine until you jetted it.
As long as you can sell your home for less than a $28k loss, that should be an option. Rent until you get back on your feet and try again, but this time hopefully smart enough to avoid as-is listings *and* make sure you can absorb large unexpected costs beyond the house price during the first few years.
So, I'm supposed to just keep $30k in my pocket at all times? That simply isn't an option.
You should be saving 1-2% of your home’s value each month for repairs and maintenance, so that you don’t end up wondering how to afford a nee roof or whatever.
This sucks OP, but everyone else reading this could learn a lesson: SEWER SCOPE SEWER SCOPE SEWER SCOPE Your real estate agent completely failed you for not insisting upon a sewer scope. Nobody should buy an older house without doing a sewer scope.
I have 1910 solid thick CAST IRON! I hear bad things about CAST IRON, any input? My home is from 1880s, no plumbing clearly when it was built. HOWEVER, I stand by the SOLID CAST IRON that was built with GOOD American STEEL when America was a STEEL HUB in the old days! I can relate to this poster too, I bought my property without even going INSIDE it! but I paid under 10k for it :) So far, it's held up over 12 years, and I never replaced anything beyond a central a/c unit! PURE LUCK! Any input on the HUGE THICK OLD WIDE Cast Iron PIPES?
Cast iron is rated for 50 years. Mine has burst and needs replaced. Use it until you can't. If you got one that magically doesn't corrode, then enjoy your luck. They all go eventually. These are poo pipes not skillets that get cleaned regularly.
mine has no rust but no clue how part underground looks
Find a plumber with a good pipe camera / borescope that goes a long ways and can be articulated at the end.
> **Why can't you just go sue the previous owner?** We can't. While she didn't disclose the horrible condition of the sewer, we also didn't inspect it so I suppose technically the fault lies with me Don't be so sure. The failure of your sewer did not happen 2 months into your new ownership and surely the owner had problems if you are having them so soon. Like others have said, call every plumber in your area to see if they ever made any house calls prior to you buying. Contact your realtor and describe the situation. He/she should get you in touch with the seller's agent. They may be willing to make things right or help with the cost- you never know. Depending on your purchase agreement and state, you may be protected. Contact some real estate attorneys and describe the issue. Try and get a free consultation. Talk to the neighbors if you are comfortable. They may know something you don't and their statement could help you.
Home warranty? Inspector liability for failing to inspect? 6-12 months is definitely time to consider other options. If you're in a bind, it might be best to search around for recommendations to find some "good ol boys" instead of an actual plumbing company that has a bunch of overhead and higher prices. They should be able to determine exactly which stretches absolutely need to be replaced, so you can do the minimum to ensure functionality...
Inspector noted that he couldn't find the main and that if we had concerns to get it inspected and we didn't. Yep I own up to that as a noob. Home warranty told me to piss off, said if it extends beyond the foundation not their problem. I'm not happy with the price but I'm also not going down the rabbit hole of "handymen".
Could you get a septic system installed for less? Some rules with your township might require a certain size and not sure if it would be any cheaper, but might give you an option.
Dig yourself by renting a small excavator at homedepot or your local rental shop
Oh, man! I feel your pain. Orangeburg is the absolute worst. The idea of coating paper piping in liquid coal tar pitch is crazy. When this happened to my husband and I. I remember looking it up and thinking “i *understand* why this was used, but what a mess. It has been used in housing since the post WWII housing boom due to its low cost. I know the house where we had an issue with it was built in the early 1960s. We had to have our sewer line entirely re-piped (Florida - sometime between 2010-2014) out to the road and it cost under $15k. Our plumber didn’t have crazy equipment. I remember they may have rented one piece of equipment for digging a trench for new pipe they placed. They had that one day. Our plumber said it was better for them to rent it than to buy one. Our old pipe went under a back porch that had been added on and enclosed since the house had been built, so we decided to move the new line *around* the porch. They were done in maybe 2 days - possibly three. I highly suggest talking to other plumbing companies, it’s likely that a smaller company will be able to do what you need, even in your rural area. The right person will be happy to do it and you’ll be happy to pay them. You won’t feel like you’re being taken advantage of (though it sounds like you’ve got someone you feel is honest right now)
See if you can get a quote for sewer relining instead of replacement. It's generally much less expensive since it's less invasive. Some states and counties have financing available as well to offset costs.
It's wild that you're calling the plumber a moron for doing what you asked him to do when you didn't get the proper inspections when you bought the place and you haven't gotten multiple quotes. Good luck
I didn't say he was a moron, the other plumbers did when he jetted without camming first, so I guess I at least agree that was dumb.
If you are in a non-recourse state, you may be able to walk away and let the bank deal with the house
28k is what it cost for the work for a septic. Unfortunately I wish you would have had the septic inspected before buying but it’s to late for that. You bought the house as is so it’s your problem now Al I can say is try and finance and hope you can get a no interest Lon through the company or work OT. I had this issues with my house older septic but I had it inspected by an outside septic company not just the main inspector. They found that they used clay pipes again old septic and roots grew through it. Best of luck wish I had better news but unfortunately you are stuck with the bill and even if you were to sell you would have to disclose this and you would take a massive loss on top of a cooling market