Is my neighbors sewer line broken?
I had a very similar situation. We were getting some water – smelly, dirty, etc. come in periodically in the front near our hatch which is the opposite side from our drain. This was clearly not rain water although we wondered for a while. We eventually discovered that our neighbors had a periodic blockage in their drain which they would clear out – when they eventually put a camera in and looked they discovered that their drain was broken. Once they fixed their drain all of the issues went away.
arewedoneyet
in General Discussion 4 years and 5 months ago
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7 replies
studiomercenary | 4 years and 5 months ago
Good morning, Three times over the past 9 months or so, we’ve been getting what appears to be and smells like sewage in our basement. The moisture seems to originate along the party wall and from the front of our foundation wall. The area under and around our basement waste line is completely dry.
The first time I had the wet sewage in our basement , I asked my neighbor if he had water in his basement. He stated no. Months later , when googling city records for our street, I saw that my neighbor had called DEP for a sewer backup. The DEP note, said something to the effect that it was his issue and not DEPs. ( Sorry, I cant remember the exact language right now. )
What are your suggestions for handling this situation? My neighbor is a nice man, but I can’t clean up sewage every 3 months.
Any thoughts would be helpful.
andriywww1990 | 4 years and 5 months ago
can you find out if he attempted to fix (snake) this? we had to snake ours about three years ago and it has been fine since. if he had it snaked recently, then i can only imagine 2 other scenarios: a break or a tree root (unless someone is putting something down there). i lived in a historic home years back and we had periodic back ups. the landlord admitted that they knew it was a tree root and implored me and my roommates (right twenty something year olds who don’t care about tree roots) to keep long hair from our occasional overnight guests out of the shower drain.
if this guy has not had this snaked, it could be anything. grease, hair, a drug stash that got flushed.
a video camera can tell what is going on but convincing your neighbor might be the problem. we ran a video in a line in commercial once and could see everything. at the time, 1990’s it was like $400, me thinks.
andriywww1990 | 4 years and 5 months ago
OP, what i am alluding to above is that your neighbor’s sewer might be backing up via a cleanout located near the party wall or perhaps out an overflow. we have a cleanout at the front of the house and just beyond that, in the space under the steps we have an overflow.
studiomercenary | 4 years and 5 months ago
Thank you. Your responses are helpful.
andriywww1990 | 4 years and 5 months ago
bk4567: i hope what i said helps. but please do keep us posted as to the outcome.
slimc | 4 years and 5 months ago
I have had mysterious water in the basement near the front of my house on two occasions. The first was cause by a roommate flushing baby wipes – I had the sewer snaked and established flushing rules. No further problems. Then last week when some workers flushed out the new rainwater detention tank in front of my house, the water seeped in. In both instances the water seemed to be seeping in through the walls and floor. Is this happening to you during heavy rains? Do you have a bioswale or rain water detention tank under the sidewalk?
studiomercenary | 4 years and 5 months ago
Slimc, I wish there was rhyme or reason to when the sewage enters our basement. It doesnt come with heavy rains or the recent snow melt. It is seemingly random. We don’t have a bioswale near us. Re: rainwater detention tanks under the sidewalk, how do I find out if there is one near us?