Main Sewer Drain Line Inverted Tilt

[Gbwilliams]

New homeowner of a house built in 1996. The house has a sewage drain line that runs about 15 yards from the side of the house to the street in front. Had a plumbing inspector do a sweep of the home a few weeks back. He happened to check the drain vent outside, and found standing water. He then ran a snake camera through and found the drain was holding water in several spots between the house and street Concluded that the drain line was not installed properly back in 1996 (should be angled at a decline from house to street, but it is currently at a slight incline from house to street). He cut a small section of drywall out in our basement to try and lift the drain line by hand…no luck.

He said our only option is to bring a bobcat in to dig up the drain line and lift it up. Otherwise, at some point we will have a backup that floods the basement with sewage. Quoted about $4k to fix.

If the home was built in 96, the previous owners lived with this drain line for a while without issue. (Nothing in the Seller’s Disclosure regarding a flood.) Does this sound like an “immediate” concern? Any workarounds (e.g. a pop-up vent) that would buy us some time?

Inspector hasn’t sent me the pictures he took with the snake, but I’ll attach the contractor’s description of needed repairs below.

Appreciate any advice you can offer!!

 

[Breplum]

Any pipe not sloped ideally 1/4" per foot (exceptions made for 1/8") will cause problems.
Especially normal is for a slight amount of soft toilet paper, gets a snowball effect going.
If you have a subterranean basement, there should be a backflow device on the line to prevent catastrophic public sewer backing up and flowing in to the basement.
Would have been required in most jurisdictions.
In fact, the proper and required way to plumb homes with subterranean level plumbing is to have the upper floor drain connect after the backflow device. In other words, the backflow device serves only the at risk level.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[John Gayewski]

New homeowner of a house built in 1996. The house has a sewage drain line that runs about 15 yards from the side of the house to the street in front. Had a plumbing inspector do a sweep of the home a few weeks back. He happened to check the drain vent outside, and found standing water. He then ran a snake camera through and found the drain was holding water in several spots between the house and street Concluded that the drain line was not installed properly back in 1996 (should be angled at a decline from house to street, but it is currently at a slight incline from house to street). He cut a small section of drywall out in our basement to try and lift the drain line by hand…no luck.

He said our only option is to bring a bobcat in to dig up the drain line and lift it up. Otherwise, at some point we will have a backup that floods the basement with sewage. Quoted about $4k to fix.

If the home was built in 96, the previous owners lived with this drain line for a while without issue. (Nothing in the Seller’s Disclosure regarding a flood.) Does this sound like an “immediate” concern? Any workarounds (e.g. a pop-up vent) that would buy us some time?

Inspector hasn’t sent me the pictures he took with the snake, but I’ll attach the contractor’s description of needed repairs below.

Appreciate any advice you can offer!!

View attachment 89331View attachment 89332

I think I'd wait and see. Yes it's bad. Especially if it's true that "there's a slight incline" I don't really see how that's possible. Are you sure it's not a "belly" in the piping? A belly isn't great but it can work for years and years and years and years etc.