Anybody had a drain line replaced recently?

[citizenkane]

I have a rental house that was built in the 50's. Every year the line from the house to sewer gets clogged up with tree roots. Im getting ready to have a new floor put in and would like to this taken care of for good prior to putting the floor in. Has anybody had this done recently? What did it run you? Its a short run to the street, 40ft or so. There was a cleanout put out in front of the house a few years ago so the line is easy to locate.
Thanks

 

[88GT]

I have a rental house that was built in the 50's. Every year the line from the house to sewer gets clogged up with tree roots. Im getting ready to have a new floor put in and would like to this taken care of for good prior to putting the floor in. Has anybody had this done recently? What did it run you? Its a short run to the street, 40ft or so. There was a cleanout put out in front of the house a few years ago so the line is easy to locate.
Thanks

Yes, had it done 2 years ago. I can't remember the exact figure, but somewhere in the ball park of $5K. (Mr88GT thinks it was closer to $6-7, but I honestly don't think it was that high.) We were expecting around $10K but it didn't get close to that.

Our run is roughly the same length. And our line was buried beneath the original concrete steps/patio at the front door AND ran under the length of the concrete walkway out to the driveway(what idiot planned for that!). So all of that had to be removed as well. My plumber also re-worked some of the perimeter drain that had been damaged by the roots.

I don't know if this is the standard or just happened to be the case with our house given its location on a main thoroughfare, but our main line to the sewer dumps into a large main artery rather than a collector. So instead of having to excavate the entire length of our main line, he only had to dig out the broken sections. He used the existing intact clay line as a run for the PVC. But again, I don't know if this is possible for a home that connects to a feeder rather than dumping in to a main sewer run.

The worst part was entering the drought of 2010 immediately after this was done and having no rain to compact the soil back into place.

Just for fun: Pic of the excavation here

And, yes, those same Christmas lights are still up. It's pissing off my neighbor something fierce too.

 

[citizenkane]

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to try and get a couple estimates this week. Mines a straight shot, only yard and one small sidewalk in the way. I just really don't want it backing up once I get the floor redone.

 

[paintman]

I had mine done by roto rooter 2 years ago. It cost 3700 and then i plumbed the rest of the house my self. Mine was a 50 ft run from the house to the road. But they also did not finish the yard which i had to do.

 

[hornadylnl]

I had an entire septic system with 5 100' runs installed for $6k. How is running 50' of pipe costing thousands?

 

[citizenkane]

I've always wondered the same thing. I'm planning on getting a couple estimates. I'm sure part of it has to do with people waiting till it's a emergency. I know a neighbor of mine had theirs done on Christmas day. I'm sure that was costly.

 

[stationhollow]

150 bucks in materials x 10 hours labor = 1500 bucks. go through the wall with your pipe if you can. easier and you dont have to worry about your floor settling on your pipe. good luck

 

[88GT]

I had an entire septic system with 5 100' runs installed for $6k. How is running 50' of pipe costing thousands?

I don't know. Maybe it's a little bit more in some cases that simply running 50' of pipe.

 

[remauto1187]

You can rent a trencher for a day for around $150 or so and lay your own PVC which can be bought at menards/lowes. Believe someone licensed has to do the actual hookup to the city sewer line...so let them. Be sure to smile and thank them when you managed to keep them from screwing you with a huge bill

Check with your county to make sure no other permits/requirements will be needed.

PVC is easy, fairly cheap and easy to work with!

 

[hornadylnl]

It'd take my excavator longer to drive his backhoe the 4 miles to my house than to dig 50' of trench. I paid less than $1500 for him to dig the 350' electric trench through a woods.

If I only had 50' to go, I'd put my backhoe attachment on my tractor and do it myself.

 

[Gump]

I'd absolutley do it my self, even with a shovel before I paid $5K for that job.
If you do hire it out, try to get some one that can do both your new floor and the new sewer line. Generally the more work that is done at the same job site the less each thing costs.

 

[CindyE]

My mom is dealing with this now. The house was built in the 50s too, and sits on a concrete slab. No crawl space or basement. There will have to be a jackhammer brought in to get thru the floor. There is a pipe broken under the house.
We've had issues with tree roots as well, but at least we have a crawl space. We got rid of all larger trees and shrubs in the front of the house. We used to have yucca plants, and those things have massive root systems, i found out!

 

[daddymikey1975]

I've heard of some contractors/plumbers "pulling" a new drain line from the house to the street.

Not sure how it's done or the cost, but it does not require as much digging IIRC.

(to do my sewer line, I'd have to dig down to the bottom of my 8' basement just to get access to it. No way I'd tackle that myself with a shovel.. in fact, the city has my street ripped up to re-do all the sewer lines anyway LOL)