Any plumbers out there?

[alexfitch225]

Last night I was cleaning my basement due to an ongoing unknown source water issue. That's when I discovered where the issue is coming from, the main drain in the basement (where the shower and everything else drains into) isn't draining as fast as it should therefore causing the drain to back up temporarily. I asked a few friends and they said it could be tree roots messing up the system, I was thinking it could be hair and whatever else finds its way into the drain. What would you do? I was thinking try some chemical drain cleaner, or should I just swallow the cost of having a plumber come out?

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[oneounceload]

You could always rent a powered drain snake and run it from your drain to see if it helps.

 

[steelslaver]

I second the power drain snake. Not hard to run, but messy. Wear you old clothes or better yet get some disposable Tyvex coveralls. They have several attachments. Use one that is tapered first. Go in till it hits resistance. Grind away for a while, then pull it out, sometimes stuff gets stuck and wadded up on the end. Keep at it untill your out of snake and have run biggest tool.

By the way avoid thing like disposable wipes etc. They ARE NOT flush able no matter what anyone claims. They do not dissolve and sooner or later find a place to pile up. If not in your drain, somewhere in the main.

 

[arjay]

It might be worth calling someone out to do it.Most drain cleaners have a camera they can run through the line.If it's clay pipe (it's an old house?) you may have an offset or a break at a joint that's hanging things up

 

[dben002]

You did not mention if this is a city water system or a septic tank system. Not that it matters other than the fact that septic tank systems bring additional considerations for backup's.

I would run the snake first to see if the blockage can be cleared.
Only after doing that would I spend the $3,500.00 to have a plumber make a house call.

 

[Rule3]

Really need more information??

How do you know it is "the main drain" in the basement??

Is there a clean out Tee??

Metal pipe. plastic?

Roots, are you on a septic or city sewer??

 

[carpriver]

Normally there is a clean out y just before the main sewer line goes into the floor. That would be the place to start. several years ago I had problems with my drains, it was backing up and coming threw the floor drain. I called a plumber, he told me I had a broken sewer pipe and I would need to have a new line installed. The sewer line runs the width of the house, under the floor before it gets to the front yard and the street. I was looking at $9000 or $10,000 for the new line. I then called a drain cleaning guy, He came out ran a camera threw the drain and found some old tree roots blocking the drain. There had been a tree over the sewer line a few years before and some were still causing trouble, about a year later same thing happened again. called the same guy fixed the problem; and said the sewer line was in good shape. The sewer guy charged 75.00 bucks and hour vs 125 charger by a plumber.

hope you get the problem fixed and it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg.

 

[alexfitch225]

I second the power drain snake. Not hard to run, but messy. Wear you old clothes or better yet get some disposable Tyvex coveralls. They have several attachments. Use one that is tapered first. Go in till it hits resistance. Grind away for a while, then pull it out, sometimes stuff gets stuck and wadded up on the end. Keep at it untill your out of snake and have run biggest tool.

By the way avoid thing like disposable wipes etc. They ARE NOT flush able no matter what anyone claims. They do not dissolve and sooner or later find a place to pile up. If not in your drain, somewhere in the main.

I'll try a power snake, no wipes just tp thank you all.

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[alexfitch225]

Also it is city system

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[dave1918a2]

Don't know where You are but if I was You I would type drain cleaning in (your city) and see what comes up. mine backed up last summer and that's what I did. Got it snaked for $99.00. Found roots.

 

[hittman77]

What would you do?

I'd call my buddy Chip who owns the local Roto-Rooter thingy. He'd either tell me what to do or direct me to pick up a 12-pack of Miller Lite 'cause he's on his way over.

 

[pawngal]

I'd call my buddy Chip who owns the local Roto-Rooter thingy. He'd either tell me what to do or direct me to pick up a 12-pack of Miller Lite 'cause he's on his way over.

Believe it or not my Roto-Rooter person is a good looking young gal! Her mother and her took over operating the business when her Dad passed away several years ago. Charge is usually $75-100 depending on the time involved. I generally have to have my line done every 2 years, 2 huge maple trees over where the line runs to the city sewer.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

You can go to the plumbing section of the local home store. In the area of Rid-X will be "Root Killer". It is a copper sulfide compound that is poisonous and corrosive to plant roots. Follow directions and repeat about every 6-8 weeks YEAR ROUND, roots grow in the winter! Since you still have a slow flow, you may not need to get "rootered" first, but if you do you still need the preventive.

Ivan

 

[Tom S.]

Depending on when your house was built, you either have clay tiles or PVC pipe. Clay is notorious for cracking and letting tree roots in. Yes there are some chemicals that will destroy them temporarily, but they aren't legal to use in all communities, so check first. PVC is normally immune to roots, unless it got cracked when it was installed.

Some outfits can now clean out the old pipe and install a sock inside to prevent roots from growing back or repair small cave ins. I don't know how well it works or holds up though, or the cost for that matter. I do know that between my father and father-in-law, both of whom lived in older homes and had clay tiles, I did a lot of snaking with hand snake. It's not the most pleasant job in the world.

 

[Onomea]

I had a tree root guy come out to my Hawaii house and snake the drain. Got the roots. Cost maybe $150. Quote to repair the pipe was $3K, going through the concrete floor, etc. My tenant did not want the mess of construction, and the tree root fix, while temporary, works.

 

[hittman77]

Believe it or not my Roto-Rooter person is a good looking young gal!

Then you're gonna need to spring for Captain Morgan and a trip to Outback Steak House.

 

[alexfitch225]

I'd call my buddy Chip who owns the local Roto-Rooter thingy. He'd either tell me what to do or direct me to pick up a 12-pack of Miller Lite 'cause he's on his way over.

I wish I had a friend in the local plumbers union. That would save me a lot of trouble

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[doublesharp]

I just had a plumber snake my basement floor drain. His power cleaner had 85' of cable and he used it all. Went slow and it took about 30 minutes. He knows I pay cash and he charged $100 even. Years of gunk will overwhelm chemicals.

 

[tlawler]

Last night I was cleaning my basement due to an ongoing unknown source water issue. That's when I discovered where the issue is coming from, the main drain in the basement (where the shower and everything else drains into) isn't draining as fast as it should therefore causing the drain to back up temporarily. I asked a few friends and they said it could be tree roots messing up the system, I was thinking it could be hair and whatever else finds its way into the drain. What would you do? I was thinking try some chemical drain cleaner, or should I just swallow the cost of having a plumber come out?

I had a similar situation this past Monday. I was away for the week working up in Jacksonville, which is about 300 miles from home. My wife texts me that when one of my daughters was doing laundry and when the washer pumped out, it started backing sewage up through the master bath shower drain. She was in a panic and thought the tank needed to be pumped and already had called and had someone dispatched to do so. I had her cancel the tank pumper because the other two bathrooms were ok. They were able to use just the two good bathrooms and abstain from doing laundry until I returned yesterday. I bought a $12 drain bladder from Home Depot, removed the drain screen and placed it in the shower drain. I plugged the washer drain on the other side of the common plumbing wall and turned on the hose bib to the drain bladder. Then I flushed the toilet and when the bowl began filling, I gave it one mighty plunge with a plumbers helper and it must have instantly cleared the line because the toilet flushed with a healthy "whoosh". Ran a load of laundry and everything was fine. I'm not a plumber, but I do have five daughters and have learnt quite a bit about plumbing over the years because of it. I've lost count of how many times I've had to pull a toilet because of my young princesses

 

[alexfitch225]

I had a similar situation this past Monday. I was away for the week working up in Jacksonville, which is about 300 miles from home. My wife texts me that when one of my daughters was doing laundry and when the washer pumped out, it started backing sewage up through the master bath shower drain. She was in a panic and thought the tank needed to be pumped and already had called and had someone dispatched to do so. I had her cancel the tank pumper because the other two bathrooms were ok. They were able to use just the two good bathrooms and abstain from doing laundry until I returned yesterday. I bought a $12 drain bladder from Home Depot, removed the drain screen and placed it in the shower drain. I plugged the washer drain on the other side of the common plumbing wall and turned on the hose bib to the drain bladder. Then I flushed the toilet and when the bowl began filling, I gave it one mighty plunge with a plumbers helper and it must have instantly cleared the line because the toilet flushed with a healthy "whoosh". Ran a load of laundry and everything was fine. I'm not a plumber, but I do have five daughters and have learnt quite a bit about plumbing over the years because of it. I've lost count of how many times I've had to pull a toilet because of my young princesses

I forgot about drain bladders. I'm not sure how that would work since its the main drain that everything feeds down to. The y drains perfectly fine just not the main itself.

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