Residential Plumbing advice wanted.

[brickNblock]

Hey 'Ginny bro's.......

I'm a bit of a drive from you two but things should work the same I think.

Ask me about brick/block/stone and Im good but ......PLUMBING...My head goes numb.

 

Thought it was because of the flooding why the toilet and bathtub/sink etc..were being slow.

When I got in tonight I smelt the foulest odours and went to investigate.

Downstairs in the half basement where all the pipes eventually end up I asked Charmaine to flush the toilet........

GoodFeaking Grief........

It came straight out the pipes onto the floor.

This is when I realized I was standing in about 3-4inches of not just water.......PUKE.

Toilet paper...everything...everywhere.

On further inspection I traced the main pipe from the bathroom and folled it all the way to the leak and then over another 28' to where it leaves the house and empties into the septic tank.

OK...the bricklayer says...no problem.

Tonight Ill just ducttape up the leak and properley cap it off tommorrow with a weld too.

One more flush after the ducttape...everything came up the bathtub.....ouch!

Went out and dug up the septic.....it is full.

I called the guy to empty it tommorrow..

He said in the mean time..run a hot water hose from the intake of the septic into the house to attempt an unplugging.

Major roughage comming out but after running the hot water tank dry still no clearing .

Im having the septic cleaned tommorrow...and will rent one of them SNAKES to try and clear any blockage.

 

One thing I noticed inside the basement.....where everything was comming out was out of 3 different pipes that led nowhere.....it looks as if they were the old connection and someone put in new without capping off or removing the old lines. One line is 2" copper/ 2 are 3 1/2" copper??????????they go nowhere......run off the elbow.

 

Any tips as to what may be going on fellas?

Getting pretty smelly around here and we might just end up in a hotel before this night is over.........

I then have to look at cleaning out the baseent/crawlspace....and getting it disenffected for sure....and will deffinitely be needing help with how exactly to go about that.

Many thanks,

bNb..........................Wow...its a bit much I tell ya......

[Daplumma]

Sorry bud,just saw this post.When they pump out the tank they should take care of the problem.The inlet side of the tank has a Tee turned pependicular to the horizon.The tank will always appear full but the stppaoge is likely at the Tee.Punch a digging bar thru the Tee and it will likely clear the stoppage.The pumper truck guy will explain why the tank looks full.Pump it anyway should be done once in a while..Stay away from Charmin...no matter how oh so sweet it feels on yer ass.Let me know how it works our bud.

Joe

[steve barrett]

Hi guy .I know how frustrating it must be having a full tank and it backing up.We have opened a lot of tanks up here and find lots of fun things in them. But the worst problem is the washing machine soaps that have filler in them. If you find a large white cake around the intake of the tank it will be soap filler. Tide is the worst. I usually tell my frends to switch to liquid soaps and the problems seem to improve. Any how I am too far away to help but I wish you best of luck on your problem. Steve

[Canuck]

Sounds like a plugged septic bed maybe. The honey wagon operator will tell you if the inlet was plugged or not. If not, it may be time for a new leaching bed. Not too expensive if there is good access for equipment, but it makes a mess of your yard. The newer technology for septic beds is a lot better. No more clay pipes. They are a lot smaller too.

[LundGuy]

Good thing you are getting the tank pumped, when was the last time you did?. It should be pumped out every 3 to 5 years depending on how many washrooms and people using your system.If the tank gets filled with sludge from bottom to top, you will get sludge run off which will plug your distribution box and lead to much worse problems. Human waste enters the septic tank and liquids are separated from solids, the solids drop to the bottom and breakdown , the liquids pass to the distribution box and on to the weeping bed evenly. There is always a sludge that floats on top in the tank that makes you think it is full. As Daplumma stated getting the tank pumped out should do it and the tee at the end of the drain is usually the spot that gets plugged, but not always because of a full tank, sometimes just due to using too much paper, wrong paper, soap problems, etc.. Sometimes plugging the stack vent off and plunging the toilet drain(with toilet off) will blow the sludge through, that is of course if the tank is not the sole problem. Even after having your tank pumped you almost always have to snake out your drain, sometimes while the guy is cleaning out the tank you can flush the toilet several times and that will do the trick, if the drain is not too plugged at the end. If you have a clean out in the right place you can open it and snake it right as the drain leaves the house. Keep your tank pumped on a regular basis and your system will last for years.

[HTHM]

You will not like to hear this, but the drywall in your basement will need to be cut out and replaced to at least a 2' height. As well, the studs and base plate will need to be disinfected to prevent any future health problems.

It is not a fun thing, but you may want to contact your insurance broker about this flood. Black water clean up is a science all in itself.

Good luck!

[brickNblock]

Fella's....thanks much for your help and responses.

I was told the septic only had to be pumped pumped each 3-5yrs....

I've only the owned the house 2yrs and made it a priority to have it done at least once a season and two if neccessary...the last time it was done was in November...8months ago.

With all the flooding weve endured

The renovations by the previopus owner leaving 3 un-capped pipes...Sheesh???????

 

A call to my insurance company told me they will put us in a ho5tel for the duration and will look after the TOTAL clean -up and disseffection..........thats it...it was an act of god and not covered...Bull..anyway

Buddy couldnt make it today to pump out because he was was stuck on a fellas property...tooo much a load.

Sounds like crap to me..ahahaha

He'll be out tommorrow by midday...Ive a plumber arriving at the same time to inspect and snake if req'd..........Insurance told me it had to be that way or no coverage.

My daughter is billeted out at a friends and the wifey is safely in a hotel......Im still here digging for thew time being till can go no longer but will stay until all is done.

Right now Ive got probably 2-3" of raw sludge in the bath tub....not nice.to say the least...

Windows all open.....woodstove going full to take out the dampness

Hpefully by tommorrows end this will be resolved.

Again Buds.

Thanks for your replies.

From smelly ole me.......Ill let you know what happens.

S*%t happens.......ahahaha

pete

[Dondorfish]

Bout' time you got your poop togeather!!!

 

- sorry, just couldn't resist

 

 

Don

 

[Pinch]

Windows all open.....woodstove going full to take out the dampness

 

I had a similar problem in my basement a year or so ago and was going to put the fire on to take away all the moisture, but I was told by the cleaning company that this would just make the mold fester and get worse. You may want to re think the fire idea. Or perhaps someone else on the board can give a definite answer!

 

 

Pinch

[Rattletrap2]

Pete,

Any update on this?

[brickNblock]

wow.just saw this post was still around.

We did 'er.did it just fine.

Turns out that the previous owner had done some renovating in the crawlspace.

There were 2 complete lengths of pipe from the toilet/shower/sink area running to the septic.

One pipe was copper/3" and the other PVC. The PVC was the new one and the copper was never capped off never mind being removed. It had been stuffed with pink insulation and when ever we flushed the stuff would travel down the PVC and then back up out the copper as it was an easier route then straight out into the holding tank.

I called in a plumber and he had some suggestions but wouldnt do it himself because of the mess.

As suggested....the plugged up connection was at the bend exiting the house to the tank but it was plugged back about 6 feet up the PVC. I cut into the PVC with my sawsall until I found where the plugup started....Snaked the thing clean then ran a hose through it.

After some PVC connection repair I then removed the old copper and capped off the remaining 12" at the connection.

Got 28' of 3" copper for my efforts.

I then began the process of cleaning out the basement/crawlspace..

Pumped it all into the septic over a 3 day period...shovelled all debris on the floor and scrubbed her down good.

I laid out some lime AND bleached everything.

All the water works as it should now......heck, we even have better waterpressure it seems as well as an extremely quick flush.

Thanks for everyones help on this..it truly helped.

I got busy with the boat right after and havent looked back til I saw this post up again so,...thanks again everyone.