Water draining bad, backup in basement... (Pictures included)

[mike04gt]

EDIT: More pictures/problems in posts below

Hi Everyone,

I'm a newbie homeowner with a problem, me and my wife just moved in this past September to an old 2 flat house on the Northside of Chicago.

Recently, we have been having some problems with our plumbing. When we take a shower, the water does not drain out of the bathtub at all, it fills up above our feet for a 5-10 minute shower and slowly drains out after that.

The issue is, in the basement adjacent to the bathrooms location on the first floor is the laundry room, and the floor drain seems to clog up and push water up out of it. Its stink sewage smelling water too. It is the only one that does this in the basement, but we never had any problems when it was warm out in September with water draining in the bathtub. About 3 weeks ago, we also had a plumber come out to the house and snake the bathtub when we only thought that was the problem. But recently we noticed water coming up through the floor drain in the basement also.

Could it just be that the pipes are frozen and not letting water get through?
If so, wouldnt the hot shower water help free those pipes up?
Or are we dealing with a nasty clog???


I have attached some pictures for reference....

This is a picture of the floor drain and some of the water that just came up after a short shower (those white things are mothballs haha)



Here is the only outside sewer grate on our house, I opened it up once before and there is nothing in there but a water collection spot



Here is a view of that outside sewer spot in reference to the floor drain





Thanks so much for any help!!!

-Mike


EDIT: SEE POST #11, THE BASEMENT GOT WORSE, iTS NOT FLOODED.

[SewerRatz]

You have a blockage in your main sewer system. Its time to call a plumber or in Chicago there is Sewer License for sewer and drain guys, You can call one of them. Make sure they call the City for a rodding permit. The bath tub may have its own blockage and needs to be rodded as well.

[mike04gt]

You have a blockage in your main sewer system. Its time to call a plumber or in Chicago there is Sewer License for sewer and drain guys, You can call one of them. Make sure they call the City for a rodding permit. The bath tub may have its own blockage and needs to be rodded as well.

You think it could just be frozen or is it just junk clogged up in there?

If I called a plumber, they'd be able to determine what it is that needs to be done if I describe the problems right?


I'm just used to living in apartments where I never had to deal with this stuff before, its fun owning a home haha!

[SewerRatz]

You think it could just be frozen or is it just junk clogged up in there?

If I called a plumber, they'd be able to determine what it is that needs to be done if I describe the problems right?


I'm just used to living in apartments where I never had to deal with this stuff before, its fun owning a home haha!

Its a clog in the system, its very rare for it to be frozen, and at the temps we are having in Chicago its very unlikely. Yep when you call a plumber they will be able to look the job over and determine the trouble and fix it. Also it wouldn't hurt to call the City and ask them if their sewers are draining properly. With this thaw we are having can cause the city sewers to back up.

[krow]

Make sure they call the City for a rodding permit.

Just a quick question. In the event of an early morning blockage.

Why would anybody want to call the city, (I assume the permit office in Chicago is only open between the hours of 9:00 am and 4:00 pm), for a rodding permit if a client calls a drain company for an emergency with water/sewage up to his ankles at 3:00 am? Waiting for a permit to go through would be a waste of time in my opinion.
(keep in mind that where I live we do not need a permit to unclog a drain, we only need a permit if a section of drain is going to be replaced)

[SewerRatz]

Just a quick question. In the event of an early morning blockage.

Why would anybody want to call the city, (I assume the permit office in Chicago is only open between the hours of 9:00 am and 4:00 pm), for a rodding permit if a client calls a drain company for an emergency with water/sewage up to his ankles at 3:00 am? Waiting for a permit to go through would be a waste of time in my opinion.
(keep in mind that where I live we do not need a permit to unclog a drain, we only need a permit if a section of drain is going to be replaced)

The Chicago permit office is open 24 hours, the plumber does not need to go to the office, just call the permit office give the information on the house you are rodding, then they issue you the permit and mail you the bill of 10 bucks.

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Awe man this is serious. You see those white pellets in the picture near the floor drain?


Man, I gotta go, this is too deep and can't

[krow]

The Chicago permit office is open 24 hours, the plumber does not need to go to the office, just call the permit office give the information on the house you are rodding, then they issue you the permit and mail you the bill of 10 bucks.

Thats a money grab , if I ever saw one. They get you coming and going

[SewerRatz]

Thats a money grab , if I ever saw one. They get you coming and going

It came in handy for me many of times. When i call for the permit they inform me how many times in the homes lifetime the drain been rodded, if any repairs where done on the sewer, and the location of the stub. 10 bucks to maintain records that most homeowners don't keep or never known about when they bought the house is well worth it to me.

[Cass]

How much is the yearly registration fee...

[mike04gt]

Well, too late fellas. Last night it went up to nearly 60* in Chicago, and the 12" of snow completely melted off, not to mention the huge thunderstorm that came through last night.

Basement is NOW flooded.

[Ladiesman271]

Well, what are you doing about it? Buy a wet/dry vac and clean up that mess. You could pay a plumber to do that, but that's kind of expensive!

You still have to call someone in to clean out the drain. Note that the floor drain may not go to the sewer connection.

[mike04gt]

Well, what are you doing about it? Buy a wet/dry vac and clean up that mess. You could pay a plumber to do that, but that's kind of expensive!

You still have to call someone in to clean out the drain. Note that the floor drain may not go to the sewer connection.

Just vacuumed all the water out of there, at least 500 gallons of backwashed water. Good times.

[mike04gt]

Also, found this pipe in the wall which is definately a problem... don't know what pipe this is, but it was spewing water from the hole when we took showers tonight... it looks like there is alot of paper in it, when the water was coming out of it, it smelled like a toilet.

Any suggestions on what to patch this hole with? I have no clue, looks like its just rusted out completely, when I cut the drywall off, someone must have messed with it before because there was tons of crap silicone sealant around it.

[Dunbar Plumbing]

And why hasn't a plumber/drain cleaner been called to this residence?



Jobs like that are simple; get it open with my equipment, charge a good fee and head to the next.


That wastewater is coming back if there's more rainfall/melting to come.