Forum Archive

We had a contractor come out to fix a leak in our basement. In the process of sizing-up the job, he learned that we have a crack in the sewer pipe that leads to the street (unrelated to our leak). We have been aware of the crack and have been routinely snaking the line to keep the roots out – with no problems. We are also aware that the pipe could eventually collapse and cause a backup in the building. The problem is that the contractor won’t fix the leak unless he can rip up the whole line to the street to fix the crack as well – a significantly more costly job. We really don’t know what to do because we don’t have the appetite for another costly repair job, but have to fix the leak. Should we find a contractor that will only fix what we ask, or rip up the whole line to the street? Is there an alternative solution such as use of a sleeve to address the crack? Is there something else that we are missing?