Sewer backing up into basement

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Msehler

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Sorry for not doing the search prior to posting, but for one, I don't have the time, and two, for some reason the search wouldn't load after I hit enter.

I have a house built in 1975 with the black pipe for most of my main drains, PVC leading to them. Today my kitchen sink started to backup. It has done this in the past, and I had a plumber come out and run the big 100 footer snake. My only problem is this time, there is quite a bit of water in my basement, stemming from right beneath where the kitchen sink is (about a 2 foot wide length all the way to my floor drain) and it STINKS.

The gentleman that owned the house before me did very shotty work from what I've encountered and he has built a bathroom right in that area with only a sink and shower/tub (no toilet). It is raised (~8") so the drains can run over to meet up with the main drain running from the kitchen sink. The water is backing up into the tub there (about 6" off the basement floor) as well.

The floor drain seems to be working fine, as does the sewer on other side of the house (all the toilets (3), showers, washing machine, etc).

Can you give me an idea of what's going on and where I should start tearing apart first? I have a 25' 1/4" snake this time, but the leaking out of the wall in the basement worries me.
 

Gary Swart

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The quick answer is call a plumber. Your drain is clogged. Trying that 25' x 1/4" snake will be a major waste of time. The drain needs to be professionally snake, and a plumber on site needs to examine your entire drain system. DIY drain work is usually not good idea. A camera inspection would probably be in order to see what is cause this problem. I find it interesting that you seem to have a mixture of ABS and PVC drain pipes. I doubt that this is causing the problem, but the two types of pipe generally are not mixed.
 

Tom Sawyer

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Yes, call a plumber in and first have him snake the drain and then find the reason why it keeps plugging up.
 

Msehler

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Sorry for the confusion, but the black drain pipe is NOT ABS, it's the black metal (don't know the correct term for it). So I have the black metal for my main drains down the house, and PVC lines from sinks/etc tapping to them.

The last time it clogged was probably a year and a half ago...does this constitute "keeps plugging up"?
 

Gary Swart

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It's called cast iron. I guess "keep plugging up" is a relative term. It isn't every week, but considering I have lived in my home clog free for 40 years, I'd say there's something amiss.
 
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