the main city sewer line runs parallel to the back of our house and the kitchen sink and that opening are right on the back of the house. We chose the place to dig by coming straight out from the house towards the main line. The plumber did say he could electronically locate it but that would run about $250 and that the line should be in that general area I was speaking of and we should be able to find it. he actually encouraged me to have my husband do this work or to hire someone else to dig the hole as he said I did not want to pay him to dig a hole. My theory is he is really a nice guy and was trying to help me out, or he hates to dig holes. :)
Oh, and we have been told by two different plumbing companies that the opening on the side of the house is not big enough for the new machines. We have a regular snake and have run it down the toilet in the half bath. Should I give it a try on the kitchen sink or on that outside opening? What kind of damage might I do? Jennifer ----- Original Message ----- From: Ron Yearns To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 1:37 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] I am back and have a sewer line problem. Is the cleanout you mentioned on the kitchen accessible from outside the house. That should be considered a ground level cleanout unless the kitchen is on the second floor. Has a snake been put down this cleanout? Approximately what size, diameter is this clean out plug? If you have been talking with a plumber, did he talk anything about using a electronic pipe locater to find the route this pipe takes. Do you know where the main city sewer is? Is there a manhole cover that might line up with your property? This could give you an idea of the depth and possible direction change. This of course depends on if there is a lateral main and other houses are tied in also. You might try probing with a steel rod in the bottom of your hole to see if you can find a pipe. Ron ----- Original Message ----- From: Jennifer Jackson To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 12:52 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] I am back and have a sewer line problem. Hey Guys, Please do not take this badly, :) but I am back because of a desperate problem that I know you all can help me with. Even if that help is have a drink and call the plumber. :) I noticed some new names in the digest, so I will take just a moment to introduce myself and then get right to my sewer problem. I am Jennifer and I live in Oklahoma with my three young sons and my husband. I am not very handy, but have learned so much from this list in the past and gained a lot of confidence about what I can do myself. Ok, here we go with the sewer line. I have a partial block. Enough of a block that my washing machine and dishwasher back up and send water over flowing out of the half bath there by the laundry room. As you can imagine this does not make me very happy, though my floors are looking extra clean these days from the bleach water and other detergents. :) We tried some nasty chemicals and the snake on the line and no luck. It turns out that we do not have a ground level clean out for the plumbers to use so our home warranty is not going to cover this either. So now we are trying to install the ground level clean out, but we can not find the sewer line. We have a clean out just outside the kitchen sink on the wall of the house and the plumber said that most likely our sewer line will run straight out from there. There is about ten feet of concrete between the house and the yard though and we have been told that may mean it is as much as four to six feet deep that far out. We had the electric and what not lines marked and have a pretty narrow window to dig in to find this stupid line. We are now just over four and a half feet down and into hard packed clay. Should we try widening the trench before we go deeper? Any other tips or suggestions? Jennifer [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
