Do I need a plumber or an exorcist?

Problem began in the downstairs laundry room. When washing machine drained, there was some backup and overflow from it's standpipe and backup into the toilet next to it. I flushed the washing machine drain with a pressure nozzle and all was well for about a month. The problem returned, with water now also backing up into and from around the base of the toilet. I removed the toilet, wax ring obviously needed replaced, and while it was removed, I ran a hand auger though the sewer line thinking I might get the line opened while I had easy access. With a 50' auger, I can easily feed about 20 feet into the sewer line before hitting a very solid obstruction. I suspect this may be the "T" with the main line in the garage, based on the 20' distance. No debris or evidence of material on the auger when it's removed from the line. I've also ran the full 50' of cable from the cleanout in the garage towards the street, again with no resistance at all. Other than the solid obstruction not being the "T", but actually some mega-clog, is there anything I've overlooked? I should add that there is a floor drain, also in the laundry room, that does not back up and drains freely if water is poured into it.

Gaining much respect for plumbers,
Chuck

simple repairs

your main line is stopped up.....thats all


jsut have some one come out that cleans out
main sewer lines

cost you aboout $175.00


very simple and cheaper to jsut let some one
do it for you

master plumber mark said:

your main line is stopped up.....thats all

cost you aboout $175.00

very simple and cheaper to jsut let some one
do it for you

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Thanks, Mark. A couple years ago I had one of the 'professional' rooter guys come out for the same floor drain mentioned above. In the process of cleaning it, they managed to heavily dent and chip the paint on the front of the washer that was new at the time, and a short in their super rooter machine (I thought everybody knew water+electricity=bad things) blew the the breaker and did some minor wiring damage to the outlet it was plugged into. Between digital cameras and girlfriends that are lawyers, it all got resolved, but was a major, time consuming pain, thus my attempt at giving it a go on my own before rolling the dice again.

No offense intended, but perhaps you should get a licensed and bonded plumber to do the job. Sometimes, not always, a rooter serviceman really doesn't have that much plumbing experience. Anyone can buy a van and auger and call himself a professional. I think you have found out that a hand auger isn't enough to do the job, and it can even make the clog worse.

Gary Swart said:

No offense intended, but perhaps you should get a licensed and bonded plumber to do the job. Sometimes, not always, a rooter serviceman really doesn't have that much plumbing experience. Anyone can buy a van and auger and call himself a professional. I think you have found out that a hand auger isn't enough to do the job, and it can even make the clog worse.

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No offense taken. The previous incident was with a licenced local plumbing contractor that had been running many TV commercials on their "better and cheaper than Roto-Rooter" drain cleaning. The drain cleaning worked great, even with the water hose in the electric motor episode. Getting them to stand behind the colateral damage was a little more involved. The moral I learned is that "Licenced and Bonded" doesn't necessarily mean honest or competent.

draid

Just out of curiosity, where does the floor drain go? Out over the hill? Or sump pump?

plumber1 said:

Just out of curiosity, where does the floor drain go? Out over the hill? Or sump pump?

Click to expand...

Straight on out. The 50 year old faded plans to this house make it look like the sink and washer drain into the sewer line, that is the line from the toilet, and the floor drain has it's own line running diagonally out to the main, t'ing in about 20 feet below where the toilet/sink/washer line meets the main. These plans have been proven drastically different than what's really here in many different areas however.

No offense taken. The previous incident was with a licenced local plumbing contractor that had been running many TV commercials on their "better and cheaper than Roto-Rooter" drain cleaning. The drain cleaning worked great, even with the water hose in the electric motor episode. Getting them to stand behind the colateral damage was a little more involved. The moral I learned is that "Licenced and Bonded" doesn't necessarily mean honest or competent.

Being "Better and cheaper than Roto-Rooter" does not take much. Maybe you should also have checked to see if they were "insured" besides being licensed and bonded. Why would they have a hose in the house? Using a "water balloon" in the washer drain should have compounded your problem, not fix it.