Hello.
What was supposed to be a sewer-pipe replacement, has now become a more complicated situation.
I live in a single-family home in Chicago. Recently, some plumbers examined our very old sewer pipe with a camera, and determine that our sewer pipe was broken in 3 or 4 places.
We signed a contract with these plumbers for the following:
The plumbers would install a brand new sewer pipe, bypassing the old one. The old pipe would still be underground, but the pipe would not be functioning. This would be similar to a heart-bypass operation.
One plumber would dig out a hole in the front yard, and another plumber would dig out a hole in our crawl space. These two plumbers would "meet" and create a tunnel. The new pipe would be inserted into the front-yard hole, and would go through the tunnel to the crawl space.
On 3/21/17, the plumbers came into our crawl space for some preliminary digging, and the plumbers discovered the following problem:
Our crawl space is east of our front lawn. East of the crawl space, across a hallway, is our utility room, which houses the furnace, a washer and a dryer, and a sink.
The sink in the utility room is connected to the sewer pipe in the crawl space, via underground pipes. These underground pipes are positioned in such a way, that, if a new sewer pipe were put into the crawl space, it would be impossible to connect these underground pipes to the new sewer pipe.
Therefore, we would be left with 2 choices:
1) The plumbers would break up some of the flooring in the hallway and in the utility room, and install new underground pipes that could connect the utility-room sink and the new sewer pipe.
The plumbers have offered to so this for no additional charge. We would simply be responsible for installing new tiles.
One concern with this option is that the plumbers may damage the furnace, the washer, or the dryer.
Another concern is that, since the current flooring is old and contains asbestos, removing the flooring can "unseal" the asbestos and can release the asbestos throughout the house. However, the plumbers say that they have experience in removing asbestos-containing flooring without unsealing the asbestos.
2) Our home has a private sidewalk that is adjacent to the front lawn, the crawl space, and the utility room. The plumbers would tear up part of this sidewalk, and install under the sidewalk the pipes that would connect the utility-room sink and the new sewer pipe in the crawl space.
The plumbers will, indeed, charge an additional amount of money for this option, and the amount, the plumbers said, will not be cheap.
However, with this option, there will be no damage to our hallway or to our utility room, and there will be no asbestos danger.
So, which option should we choose?
I appreciate any advice.
Thank you.
What was supposed to be a sewer-pipe replacement, has now become a more complicated situation.
I live in a single-family home in Chicago. Recently, some plumbers examined our very old sewer pipe with a camera, and determine that our sewer pipe was broken in 3 or 4 places.
We signed a contract with these plumbers for the following:
The plumbers would install a brand new sewer pipe, bypassing the old one. The old pipe would still be underground, but the pipe would not be functioning. This would be similar to a heart-bypass operation.
One plumber would dig out a hole in the front yard, and another plumber would dig out a hole in our crawl space. These two plumbers would "meet" and create a tunnel. The new pipe would be inserted into the front-yard hole, and would go through the tunnel to the crawl space.
On 3/21/17, the plumbers came into our crawl space for some preliminary digging, and the plumbers discovered the following problem:
Our crawl space is east of our front lawn. East of the crawl space, across a hallway, is our utility room, which houses the furnace, a washer and a dryer, and a sink.
The sink in the utility room is connected to the sewer pipe in the crawl space, via underground pipes. These underground pipes are positioned in such a way, that, if a new sewer pipe were put into the crawl space, it would be impossible to connect these underground pipes to the new sewer pipe.
Therefore, we would be left with 2 choices:
1) The plumbers would break up some of the flooring in the hallway and in the utility room, and install new underground pipes that could connect the utility-room sink and the new sewer pipe.
The plumbers have offered to so this for no additional charge. We would simply be responsible for installing new tiles.
One concern with this option is that the plumbers may damage the furnace, the washer, or the dryer.
Another concern is that, since the current flooring is old and contains asbestos, removing the flooring can "unseal" the asbestos and can release the asbestos throughout the house. However, the plumbers say that they have experience in removing asbestos-containing flooring without unsealing the asbestos.
2) Our home has a private sidewalk that is adjacent to the front lawn, the crawl space, and the utility room. The plumbers would tear up part of this sidewalk, and install under the sidewalk the pipes that would connect the utility-room sink and the new sewer pipe in the crawl space.
The plumbers will, indeed, charge an additional amount of money for this option, and the amount, the plumbers said, will not be cheap.
However, with this option, there will be no damage to our hallway or to our utility room, and there will be no asbestos danger.
So, which option should we choose?
I appreciate any advice.
Thank you.
