O/T Got a real problem here

I have a sewer line under my cement slab leaking. One good thing it is the water from the kitchen sink, and not the bathroms. When I pour water in the kitchen sink in about 1/2 hour it is comming out in my garage. My garage floor is 4 inches below the house slab.Does anyone know how I can determing where the leak is comming from? I was thinking of using low pressure air,to see if I can hear a leak, but that means I need to remove the toilets and cap off the opening, along with the the sink drains. Or I could just start jack hammering up my kitchen floor. Anyone ever had this happen? Stan

Some of the sewer companies,Roto-Rooter etc,have small cameras they can snake down the drains and inspect the pipes locate leaks etc.

HTH

Vito

I think I would call in the pros with the camera on a cable and see what they see?

Where you hear the air might not be exactly where it is leaking out the pipe, if you hear it at all?

--->Paul

If you tackle it, the best place to go looking is where it is coming out at the Garage floor. It is also far less disruptive than chopping into the kitchen. It is important to figure where the grey water (from your kitchen sink) connects to the Sewer. In either case, demo sawing a square out of the garage floor is going to get you below the house floor. Jim

Hello 37chief,
Food coloring will show up were the leak is, or at least the area. The camera suggestion is the best bet though.
Guido.

Just a guess, but the break will be where the line comes out of the house into the garage. The transition will be where it settled and broke.

NEVER CALL ROTO-ROOTER!!! They will give you a screwing so bad you wont ever forget it. BTDT. Call a locally owned plumbing and sewer company that advertises camera inspections.

I saw on This Old House once they ran a camera down. Found the problem then they ran some kind of air sock down, pumped a bunch of some sort of epoxy in and let it set. The next day they had an epoxy lined non leaking sewer line The camera guy around here has a locator on his camera. He can stop it right at the crack, then locate it if busting up the concrete is an option.
AaronSEIA

As the others said, hire someone with the camera. Neighbor had serious foundation issues, house was sinking and walls were cracking. Insurance company hired the plumbers to run cameras down all lines to look for leaks before starting foundation repairs. They went through every vent pipe on the roof as well as through the cleanouts. They found 2 leaks, one a 2 inch line and one a 3 inch line. Both were under the living room floor, one just inches from a wall. They pulled up the carpet, jackhammerd 2 seperate holes about 12 inches in diameter directly over the breaks, repaired both, concreted holes, returned and replaced the original carpet a few days later.
No doubt they would mark where the leaks are and let you do the repairs yourself.

I concur. It is ashame that once some companies get a good brand in the market place, they simply use it to LOOT people out of hard earned money.
Those highly advertised plumbers will let you help pay for all of that TV time and fancy advertising budget, just call them.
The termite companies are another. Hey are making a killing off of "moisture control". In many cases, they add s few vents, roll out some thick mil plastic, and charge $1,200. Think there is any profit in there?

Around here if you have sewer line problems they send the camera down to find the problem then fix it by digging a trench from the edge of the slab to the problem area.

Camera. Around here most have a minimum of around $200 which gets you an hour or two of their time, a video, and a measurement to the break. If they find the break quick (and they should in this case), then since you paid for that minimum, have them TV some other lines too.

Good luck.

Having worked for a company doing plumbing repair for awhile some years ago, I have to say the replies saying to hire someone with a camera are right on. I say this because even though you always hear that water 'runs downhill' that isn't always the case. Actually it will run in the path of least resistance. Typically that is downhill but when the path runs uphill right beside the trench the pipe was laid in, etc, etc, that's where it will go.

In other words you can try dye, you can try air, you can try anything you want, but in the end there is no guarantee that where you find the dye, hear the air, etc, etc will be where the leak is actually coming from. Heck we had a house with a leak under the backside of a slab once where the leak first showed up slightly downhill, and nearly 40 feet from the house, at the meter. That was way before cameras came into common use and as such was a royal PITA to find.

Too, do some calling around. depending on where the leak is there are numerous products out there that can be used to slip line the pipe and repair the leak without actually having to do any digging at the actual leak site. In many cases they can dig and access the line from somewhere that's not under the slab and work the tools into place from there.

Whatever you decide, good luck.

I second the motion not to call Roto-rooter. They charged me $1,350.00 after telling me that they couldn't help me because their camera cable wasn't long enough to find the block. We installed a new line around it. $$$$$

I"ve got some friends who went through this a couple of years ago. They had cast iron sewer pipes. The had to cut the slab up over all the cast iron and replace it all. They found out during the process that the problem was widespread through out their subdivision. The builder used pipe that had a relatively limited lifespan.

Hope you have better luck than they did.

slim

My neighbor called me about his kitchen sink was backing up when he flushed the commodes so he removed the trap. He was blaming his wife for using the garbage disposal. I told him his sewer line was clogged between the house and the street. I told him to call a plumber and I told him when flushing the toilet that water has to have some place to go. If it doesn't have a place it will back up in the commodes or into the kitchen sink. He called a plumber and he he removed the cleanout plug near the street. Told him to call the town police as they could call for town plumbers that are on call over the weekend and the sewer was blocked between the cleanout and street. In about an hour they arrived and used a camera and found tree roots blocking the sewer at the street. They used a power snake to clear the roots. That tree wasn't very big. He now uses Root Kill to take care of the roots and he took down a tree. Hal

dont start jackhammering out the floor,go outside,dig down and tie a new line on there and run to the sewer line outside. easier faster and cheaper generally to do it outside. heres the thing,even with a camera you cant tell exactly where the line is.though some of the newer ones have locators on them..best way ive found is to use a regular snake and listen for where noise is loudest. also remember you likely have water lines running with that drain line also,so take it easy with the jackhammer.

You may be able to use a metal locator. if its ABS you may be able to run a wire (or snake) through it and find it with a detector.
Cameras are a great tool, but you might be limited to pipe size.

Glad you found this leak when you did. If its cast iron you can repair it with ABS :&gt

Chief, does this line go into a sewer, garden, septic tank or cesspool?

Let us know what you find...sl

You are correct, in that replacing part of the line seems inevitable anyway. But there are a couple of lingering questions of "Why? What is now blocking it that didn't used to?". If the water used to drain downhill effectively, what changed to slow it down and force it to backup, looking for another exit? Might be able to rod the line and resolve it all.

Mark