Bought a house and the Inspector didn't notice their was no standpipe for washer

[HindenLoward]

Hi team, I bought my first house and am pretty new to the workings of general house hold maintenance and repair. I am learning a fair bit, wouldn't say I am bad at it but just green. I paid my inspector 600$ (March 2021) and he gave me a full report of my house, it looked good other than a few things like new water heater, add gutters, basic stuff so I bought it.

Among a handful of things he either lied about (not sure why he would) or didnt catch, the plumbing to my washer in my basement does not follow the proper standards. There is an access door to the plumbing behind the washer so he was just lazy or a dumbass. Sorry it infuriates me the amount of things he didn't catch that have been a large deal. Obvious stuff.

Anyways, I have a lift in the basement to get all of the plumbing in the basement up and out to the sewer. So the downstairs bath drains into a lift basin, and after it gets full it pumps the water up about 5' and out to my main sewer line. I smelt sewer gas shortly after moving in and when I investigated I thought maybe the lift plumbing was not properly sealed, so I grabbed some silicon and sealed all the joints in the plumbing.

That got rid of only part of the problem. The smell was still there. After further investigation, and after crawling behind my wall to look at the plumbing in the washer something very obvious popped out to me. I have attached a stupid image to try and explain. There is no standpipe coming from the washer box. From the washer box behind the wall it takes a tiny slope, not even 45 degrees, goes into a u, and from that u goes to our main sewage line out to the city line. This is an old house, so that sewer line is about halfway up the wall.

I understand why they did this, they wanted the laundry in the location of the basement to sell the house, but the main sewer line was too high to have a standpipe coming from the washerbox, so they did this hoping the inspector wouldn't notice. Well they are smart because he didn't.

So now I have this problem, and I am 88% certain the sewer smell is coming from that pipe. On-top of the smell, the water from the washer backs up and overflows, coming out of the washerbox and spilling down the wall. I didnt notice this earlier, just never watched my laundry do a full cycle until I saw the wall glistening one random time after I found this issue, watched a cycle and it was overflowing and spilling down my wall.

To stop it from overflowing I have found doing occasional drain-o rinses fixes that for a few weeks. Then I do it again.

So now my request for consideration and thoughts.
Option 1: To make this plumbing proper, and keep the washer in the basement, I would need to plumb the washer into the lift basin, so the lift can then bring the water up to the proper height. This would allow for a proper standpipe and U bend. I worry though about that trap in the first place, I have never seen one before (also not listed on inspection, I thought it was general sump pump when buying) and I would hate to overuse it and limit the lifetime of that lift pump. I can imagine how much of a pain and stinky it would be to replace a lift pump like that. The lift pump capacity is not very large either, that loud lift pump would run probably once or twice a washer cycle, and we do a lot of laundry in my house.
Option(?) 2: Would it be possible for me to create a gasket in my washer box. I was thinking I could cut a rubber gasket that fits over the pluming in my washer box and feed my washer waste pipe through it. That way, smells wont get out, and the water will have no place to go other than out to the sewer line and will not back up? Is this a bad idea though? Maybe air needs to be able to get in as well as a kind of vent? That is kind of what I am thinking and wondering your guys' opinion on.
Option 3: move the Washer upstairs. It is not a very big house, I would never hear the end of it from my wife if I even suggested moving it upstairs, it would be quite ugly and there is no real place for it to go.

Any crazy thoughts? Thank you for the consideration team.

 

[Geofd]

Pumping it would be the easiest answer your trap(running) is probably being siphoned during drain cycle

 

[HindenLoward]

Pumping it would be the easiest answer your trap(running) is probably being siphoned during drain cycle

By pumping it do you mean by the lift pump? That everything in the basement gets put into?

 

[Geofd]

Pump to gravity bypassing your main pump

 

[HindenLoward]

Pump to gravity bypassing your main pump

Okay cool, thanks for the help. So use something like this? Liberty 404 Drain Pump System for Kitchen Sinks, Utility Sinks, & Washer Drains

And build an actual standpipe and use the pump to feed it up to the standpipe?

 

[MicEd69]

That is called a running trap that likely is being siphoned out as Geofd said.

If you have room, install a utility sink with a pump. Divert the washer discharge into the sink, and you also have a sink that you can use to wash greasy hands, presoak clothes, etc.

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

...I paid my inspector 600$ (March 2021) and he gave me a full report of my house, it looked good other than a few things like new water heater, add gutters, basic stuff so I bought it.

Among a handful of things he either lied about (not sure why he would) or didnt catch: the plumbing to my washer in my basement does not follow the proper standards. There is an access door to the plumbing behind the washer so he was just lazy or a dumbass. Sorry it infuriates me the amount of things he didn't catch that have been a large deal. Obvious stuff.

As one trained as a home inspector with many inspections under my belt, I can offer you this:

1. Regarding the plumbing to your washer: It is generally not the job of a home inspector to determine whether any plumbing follows standards or is up to code. In NC we are not allowed to cite code, since no inspector would know exactly what the code is or what was applicable at the time of installation. Normally only built in appliances are checked, and in the case of a washer and dryer, they would be run if possible and only if they were to be left with the house. I generally looked at the real estate listing, and if the washer and dryer were being left, and were "old school" that could be checked, they were. More often than not I encountered either no washer/dryer or a notation that they are not part of the sale. Note that a modern washer cannot be run if there are no clothes to be washed as the sensors will detect that. There should have been a note in the report that "the washer and dryer were not tested" and a reason given. I've encountered homes where the dryer was full of wet clothes and the washer full of wet clothes, and touching an appliance full of a homeowner's belongings is a huge no-no.

2. Access Panel. Normally a home inspector is not allowed to move an appliance to access such a panel. We're not allowed to move furniture, or personal possessions of a homeowner either. So, a furnace or water heater in a basement that is fully surrounded by boxes upon boxes is generally not something that will be checked. An inspector will not move a washing machine to see what's behind it. In those cases we are obligated to note in the report that the "appliance was not inspected because access to the appliance was blocked by homeowner's possessions. Suggest further evaluation by a qualified professional." What that means is due to the inspectors code of conduct (often mandated by the state licensing board AND their insurance company) they could not inspect something but are suggesting a means to check it if it is in your interest to do so. On occasion I've discovered things like bad venting on a water heater, or a furnace not behaving the way I think it should have been--and in those cases I note it, and suggest further evaluation by a qualified professional.

3. Reasonable Number. In cases where there are multiple items in a home of the same thing (such as windows or outlets in a room) the home inspector is generally only obligated to check a "representative sample" of the item. As a general rule I always tested ALL the outlets but was not obligated to do so. I also tested the function, seal, and locking of all windows in every room I could, but was not obligated to do so. In a room with four windows, checking two would be in compliance. Checking two outlets on two walls would be in compliance as well.

4. Dangerous Situations. Home inspectors are not obligated to put themselves in danger. If I went up in an attic and found a flurry of bats, or a raccoon nest, I'm out of there quickly and NOTHING in the attic gets inspected. If I opened access to a crawl space and found it full of mold, wet, and snakes in there, I'm not going in either. I would note why these items were not inspected and if the dangerous condition were remedied I would offer a return visit at an additional charge. Thankfully I never found such items and never encountered a dangerous situation, but boy have I heard the war stories from others.

For your particular problem, @MicEd69 shows a viable solution, either with or without the sink component. Unrelated to inspection, I used to stay in an AirBnB in Philadelphia, a private apartment in a basement. As exists for your home, @HindenLoward, the sewage outlet was halfway up the wall. The homeowner (a contractor) put exactly that pump/lift device and all water from the washer/dryer, kitchen and bath in the apartment was pumped up. No big deal. There was no sewage smell.

Back to your inspector: unfortunately, Colorado is one of the few states that has NOT adopted licensing requirements for home inspectors. What contract did you have? Were there any standards followed? Any idiot, without any training, experience and no insurance, can call themselves a home inspector in Colorado! Therefore Colorado residents are at a huge disadvantage. In the future you can see if any home inspector you hire follows any national standard of practice (InterNACHI, ASHI, FHA) and is insured. At least then you have a fighting chance.

https://www.homeinspector.org/StateLicensingRequirements/State/Colorado

 

[havasu]

I had paid for my home inspection when I purchased my house and they flagged 127 things. The report was scary until I read the details of some of them. One recommended window removal in my dining room because they are from ceiling to nearly the floor, and it is possible a child could fall thru the window. Well, sure, a child could fall anywhere, so this should include sliding glass doors, patio doors and even walls, since a kid could fall anywhere. Most of the items are just uh-huh type notifications.

 

[MrInfoPhilly]

I had paid for my home inspection when I purchased my house and they flagged 127 things. The report was scary until I read the details of some of them. One recommended window removal in my dining room because they are from ceiling to nearly the floor, and it is possible a child could fall thru the window. Well, sure, a child could fall anywhere, so this should include sliding glass doors, patio doors and even walls, since a kid could fall anywhere. Most of the items are just uh-huh type notifications.

I hope you did something about that dangerous window,

You may need to remove the steps as well, a baby can fall down them, safer to add a ramp.
Also an elevator.