Bought the house over the summer. Inspector noted master toilet gurgling odd. He suggested it may be a vent issue. Previous owner hired a plumber. Plumber signed off on the toilet as being operational. It was a cheap toilet so whatever. We move in and replaced all toilets in the house. The problem persists.
I wrote a letter to the plumber that signed off on the toilet being operational. Basically I told him that I'm aware the toilet situation is not flawless, there remains an issue somewhere, and he isn't very ethical for signing off when it's obviously not 100% right. He called me and played dumb. I explained it all and then he remembers. He said the toilet and vent was just fine, which is all he was asked to inspect. (Suggesting no one asked him to inspect the sewer line or the root cause of the problem.) He said he did exactly what he was asked but failed to acknowledge if he knew the repair was part of a home purchase contingency. I suggested he come by the house so we could talk about finding the real problem and of course, he never follows through.
Couple months pass. Toilet is stopping up randomly. Shower drain behaves odd. Called home warranty to let them deal with it. Paid my service call fee. Plumbers couldn't replicate the issue so home warranty says they're done. I paid for a camera inspection out of pocket. Sure enough, there's a "belly" in the sewer line. Home warranty calls that a collapsed pipe and won't cover it. Called homeowners insurance company and same story, won't cover it.
The sewer line in question is only about 6 -8' from an exterior wall. Slab foundation. The sewer line roughly runs parallel to the wall. Looking at the elevation change towards the sewer line connection at the street, it appears that the sewer line may go up hill to get to the street.
So now what? Is there any option besides paying someone to trench it and re-plumb the belly in the sewer line? Maybe an electric pump that can be buried in-line with sewer to provide a suction towards the street?
I wrote a letter to the plumber that signed off on the toilet being operational. Basically I told him that I'm aware the toilet situation is not flawless, there remains an issue somewhere, and he isn't very ethical for signing off when it's obviously not 100% right. He called me and played dumb. I explained it all and then he remembers. He said the toilet and vent was just fine, which is all he was asked to inspect. (Suggesting no one asked him to inspect the sewer line or the root cause of the problem.) He said he did exactly what he was asked but failed to acknowledge if he knew the repair was part of a home purchase contingency. I suggested he come by the house so we could talk about finding the real problem and of course, he never follows through.
Couple months pass. Toilet is stopping up randomly. Shower drain behaves odd. Called home warranty to let them deal with it. Paid my service call fee. Plumbers couldn't replicate the issue so home warranty says they're done. I paid for a camera inspection out of pocket. Sure enough, there's a "belly" in the sewer line. Home warranty calls that a collapsed pipe and won't cover it. Called homeowners insurance company and same story, won't cover it.
The sewer line in question is only about 6 -8' from an exterior wall. Slab foundation. The sewer line roughly runs parallel to the wall. Looking at the elevation change towards the sewer line connection at the street, it appears that the sewer line may go up hill to get to the street.
So now what? Is there any option besides paying someone to trench it and re-plumb the belly in the sewer line? Maybe an electric pump that can be buried in-line with sewer to provide a suction towards the street?