Bird Doo Head
Well-Known Member
Hello All!
We have a 4" cast iron building drain that ties to a 6" clay sewer (Fired clay, not Orangeburg).
I've kept records of when the line clogs to the point that a toilet flush will cause water to back into the basement floor drains. The interval runs from 10 months to 4 years between snakings. (40 years in this house)
I have always used the 3" cleanout on the driveway wall outside with a "C" cutter. Other companies also use 3". So, basically we're boring a hole in the root mass.
Yesterday, a person sent a camera in and saw roots what he thinks were every 3 feet, making us suspect the roots are entering the joints. (Bell & spigot was his guess)
He used a very long expandable cutter with 3 or 4 saw tooth blades while flushing the line. He went in a 4" basement cleanout and cabled to the city. The camera showed the pipes to be clean, except for a few hair roots. There are no dips, no cracks, offsets & no holes. Water flows well on the camera.
His suggestions were to either sleeve the 6" with 4" schedule 40 PVC or leave things as-is and snake every once in a while.
He thinks the roots are entering through the oakum in the clay tile bells. The every 3 feet root & no breaks on camera were his clues.
There was a large elm tree about 30 feet away from the closest point of the sewer. That tree & stump were removed a year & a half ago. The next closest is a maple that is about 80 feet away.
Since the building drain and sewer are under our concrete driveway, my preference would be to leave things as they are.
But, if we change, now would be ideal because one slab is already gone. This is because a contractor thought the pipe was broken, but it turned out that he was seeing an old manually operated backwater valve between the building drain and sewer.
To sleeve the line, another 10 ft x 10 ft section of pavement would have to be removed due to a 1/4 bend. The costly part is that the dirt is clay and the concrete people said once disturbed, it has to be replaced with compacted sand to the dig depth (7 feet). Clay dirt replacement alone is $18,000.00 if we dug and replaced the entire line. It would be about $4,000.00 for the two sections if we sleeve. (Concrete & piping extra)
From your knowledge and experience, do you think (now that the elm is gone) we're safe leaving the existing clay pipe?
If we sleeve, are we safe to go from 6" to 4"? The city said they didn't care either way. The caveats are:
The Fixture Unit count is 44.
The storm ties into the sanitary at the beginning of the building drain instead of running separately to the 6 inch.
A side note is that we are of the age where we won't be here for decades.
Thanks Very Much for helping us make a wise decision. I appreciate it!
Paul
We have a 4" cast iron building drain that ties to a 6" clay sewer (Fired clay, not Orangeburg).
I've kept records of when the line clogs to the point that a toilet flush will cause water to back into the basement floor drains. The interval runs from 10 months to 4 years between snakings. (40 years in this house)
I have always used the 3" cleanout on the driveway wall outside with a "C" cutter. Other companies also use 3". So, basically we're boring a hole in the root mass.
Yesterday, a person sent a camera in and saw roots what he thinks were every 3 feet, making us suspect the roots are entering the joints. (Bell & spigot was his guess)
He used a very long expandable cutter with 3 or 4 saw tooth blades while flushing the line. He went in a 4" basement cleanout and cabled to the city. The camera showed the pipes to be clean, except for a few hair roots. There are no dips, no cracks, offsets & no holes. Water flows well on the camera.
His suggestions were to either sleeve the 6" with 4" schedule 40 PVC or leave things as-is and snake every once in a while.
He thinks the roots are entering through the oakum in the clay tile bells. The every 3 feet root & no breaks on camera were his clues.
There was a large elm tree about 30 feet away from the closest point of the sewer. That tree & stump were removed a year & a half ago. The next closest is a maple that is about 80 feet away.
Since the building drain and sewer are under our concrete driveway, my preference would be to leave things as they are.
But, if we change, now would be ideal because one slab is already gone. This is because a contractor thought the pipe was broken, but it turned out that he was seeing an old manually operated backwater valve between the building drain and sewer.
To sleeve the line, another 10 ft x 10 ft section of pavement would have to be removed due to a 1/4 bend. The costly part is that the dirt is clay and the concrete people said once disturbed, it has to be replaced with compacted sand to the dig depth (7 feet). Clay dirt replacement alone is $18,000.00 if we dug and replaced the entire line. It would be about $4,000.00 for the two sections if we sleeve. (Concrete & piping extra)
From your knowledge and experience, do you think (now that the elm is gone) we're safe leaving the existing clay pipe?
If we sleeve, are we safe to go from 6" to 4"? The city said they didn't care either way. The caveats are:
The Fixture Unit count is 44.
The storm ties into the sanitary at the beginning of the building drain instead of running separately to the 6 inch.
A side note is that we are of the age where we won't be here for decades.
Thanks Very Much for helping us make a wise decision. I appreciate it!
Paul
