Plumbing(sewer) problem/question

Our house is on city sewer service, and for the past year or so we've been having problems a day or 2 after it rains.

It's always a day or 2 after it stops raining, and it will start with the drains gurgling, sometimes with the smell of sewer gas. It's getting worse now though, and has backed up a couple times this weekend.

The first time was Friday night after my step-son took a shower. He didn't think about the gurgling, and about a 1/2-hour later the toilet overflowed - fortunately, it was clean water.

I took a shower yesterday morning, and it started gurgling within a couple minutes. All seemed well, but again the toilet overflowed about an hour later.

So last night as an experiment I tried running the washer. As it was spinning between wash & rinse cycles the level in the toilet bowl was actually going down??? But when it switched to spin-cycle at the end, the water backed up into the tub, but the toilet was fine.

It also gurgled a minute ago for no apparent reason.

I've checked but no one else in the neighborhood is having problems. My neighbor said our sewer tile is the newer rubber-grommetted type and doesn't think it could be a tree root.

Any other ideas?

There is a blockage somewhere down stream, I think. You can get odd bubbles sometimes with a blocked vent line, but that shouldn't cause a backup.

Around here, anything that is within the footprint of your house is your responsibility, anything outside belongs to the city. There is likely a "trouble" number for the city- I'd call it first. Failing that, phone a rooter guy with a camera and pony up the dough. Floating turds in the basement is NOT what you want to find some morning. Trust me.

How old is the house? Sometimes on old houses the rain gutters are tied into the sanitary sewer, so after a big rain it could be washing debris from the gutters into the pipe.

In any case there's something causing a partial blockage in the drain somewhere. You may not notice it during normal use, but after a big rainstorm somehow the pipe is getting filled up. I think it's time to call a plumber and get the drain checked.

As mentioned a blocked vent can cause gurgling and odors but I don't think that would be the cause of an overflow. You could get on the roof and check to see if there's a dead squirrel in the stack.

Had similar problems. First we found a pipe in the celler was cracked. Fixed that. Seemed Ok for a while. Started slowing down, then just about stopped. A sewr cleaner ran a snake. Internal sewer was open and he as getting clay on the snake. So outside line. Checked with the city. My problem. It turns out that the power company had installed a new pole directly on top of the clay sewer pipe and it finally collapsed. Luckily they paid for the repair.

My story was almost identical to iceracer's. Fixed the cracked pipe. Discovered a kinked trap that attracted blockage - had that removed. Still experienced several back-ups (not a nice experience at all, unless you like raw sewage floating in your basement). Finally bugged the city enough, that they sent a camera down the pipes, discovering that tree roots had grown through the ceramic pipe on the boulevard. Fortunately, it was on their property, and they paid to have a resin liner installed. End of problems.

Streetwiseguy wrote: </citeFloating turds in the basement is NOT what you want to find some morning. Trust me.

I've been there, too. 28" of backup in my basement. HEAVY rainstorm - over 7" in less than 24 hours. This storm washed out a damn, empying a lake. At one point, it was gushing like a fountain from the floor drain, 4' high. We had to dispose of 95% of what was in the basement. The city told flood and sewer backup victims to put destroyed items on the street for pick up. It was nasty, watching people stop and root through stuff, seeing what they could score. Even after telling one lady that the dishes she was loading into her car had been in sewer water, with turds floating around, she didn't care. Really? Take a dish out of your cupboard. E36 M3 on it. How many times will you wash it before you'd eat off it? Now have all your neighbors E36 M3 on it. How many times would you wash it before you'd eat off it, knowing that MANY people E36 M3 on it?

Had a similar problem, it ended up being the wife's pager caught in a clean out. That wasn't fun to find and fix at 11pm on a Monday night.

It's got to be a blockage somewhere. The question is whether it's on your side or the city's side. Good luck.

Up here we own everything to the curb. A couple years ago my FIL had the same problem. The roots from a birch tree in his front yard had crushed the pipe. We had to replace everything from the foundation to the street, and dig out the roots.

Thanks for the advice.

I've got a call into someone to see about scoping it, though I can't verify if there's a cleanout(it may be up under the crawl space). At that point if it's more serious than they can root out, I'll rent a mini excavator & have at it.

I did my own septic system replacement at my old house. I doubt this will be any more difficult, smelly, or expensive.

Someone is dropping HUGE deuces. Talk to the wife man, talk to the wife.

Oh no, that's my step-son. We're talking soda-can sized. He's a pure meatatarian, we really think he's a reincarnated T-Rex.

I had to buy one of those mega-flush toilets just for him.

Sounds like my step-son, too.

petegossett wrote: ...meatatarian...

I wonder if I can get that on a bumper sticker.

Damn, you can.

Sorry for the thread jack.

I get that in the fall, we have a lot of trees. tree roots start reaching out and get into the house to street pipe.

Rent an auger thingie for immediate relief and then put Root be Gone down there occasionally. You have an entrance to the pipe, right?

Also, if you have a sump pump check to see if it's running into the sewer system, that could over flow the system. Some municipalities ban sump pumps in the sewer because it's only rain water, why spen the time and money to treat it?

Dan

No, just had the plumber double-check. No cleanout. So that's the first step, then clean the roots out(he's pretty sure that's the problem based on the sewer line's trajectory under a large maple), then root-be-gone.

Thanks for the bumper sticker idea. I need one for his Christmas present.

Your pipe could have shifted - ie. the downstream part of the pipe is higher then the upstream part, a puddle of water is on the bottom of the pipe.

It causes some really weird effects like you describe the gurgling and about 30min later the floor drain would get active. You'll need a scope and a good/honest plumber to make sure before digging up the floor/yard - it doesn't look like much on camera. To verify try filling the laundry tub(s), bathtubs and let them go at the same time while flushing the toilets - that volume of water will show a clog/shift pretty quick, while being relatively clean.

You may be lucky and actually have a cleanout that is covered. Both our cleanout and a floor drain were covered by a raised floor - not fun. It should be at the front wall of the house, mine was a straight line between the main stack and the street. If you are in a subdivision, check with your neighbours - yours is likely in a similar location.

Well they got it done yesterday, there was a 3' section of pipe so packed with hair-roots it looked like someone had rolled up one of those woven doormats & shoved it in there. I have no idea how it flushed at all.

Congrats! About 30 years ago I helped my Dad replace the house to street line, same thing, packed with coconut fibre. It was from his Weeping Willow trees. These things are thirsty! He put some kind of copper flashing around each joint to keep them out.

Glad it was a relatively easy fix.

Dan

When I first moved into my house here, the toilet in the basement didn't flush, and everything was dead slow. Roto rooter guy got most everything working, except the toilet. When I lifted the toilet off the floor, it actually scared me- there were two tree roots coming up between the concrete and the toilet flange that turned down the pipe and fuzzed out to fill the entire pipe. They were pure white, and looked like some sort of alien brain sucker. I actually jumped back...

petegossett wrote: Well they got it done yesterday, there was a 3' section of pipe so packed with hair-roots it looked like someone had rolled up one of those woven doormats & shoved it in there. I have no idea how it flushed at all.

We went through the same scenario six weeks ago - no fun at all. Tree roots are unreal.