Plumbers! Can I hydro jet my 50-year-old orangeberg drain?

My guy wants to hydro jet our drain. I know that it transitions at some point from iron to orangeberg, and from what I know of orangeberg I'm afraid that it's likely to blow it out. Is that a legitimate fear?

Reply to
vwalton
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yep its well know to be a POS...

If its deep, and under high value stuff I would price gettingthe orangeburgh lined

Reply to
bob haller

Although I am not a plumber/

it will be hard to sell your home in the future. you will HAVE to disclose the orangeburg

Reply to
bob haller

Yeah, you disclose it as a feature: High ceilings, crown moldings, hardwood floors, Orangeburg sewer line. Around here high voltage transmission towers close to a house are often listed as "green space".

Reply to
EXT

Here we go again. What law says you have to disclose having orangeburg in the drain pipe system? Disclosure laws vary from state to state, but I'll bet none require disclosing it. NJ certainly doesn't require disclosing it, as long as to the best of your knowledge it's working OK. Most homeowners wouldn't even know what they have it. Now if whatever pipe he has is getting clogged up regularly, it's been a continual problem, the underlying cause hasn't been fixed, then I would agree that would need to be disclosed. But that's without regard to what kind of pipe it is.

Also, it sounds like it's being assumed that the "drain" is the sewer, which it may be because he says it transitions from iron, but it could be some other type of drain, eg, for gutters, etc. where orangeburg is also used.

Reply to
trader_4

my neighbor failed to disclose a known issue witha occasionally faulty sewer line, and sold the home.

some months later the line backed up, the new owner went after the old owner who had to pay 10 grand for a new sewer line. plus restoration of the yard.

all avoidable if she had disclosed it at house sale time.

i sold my moms home some years ago after she died. the disclosure form asked about every home system, and one disclosure question was does it have orangeburg?

Reply to
bob haller

Knowing you have a drain line that has a regular issue where it doesn't work, backs up, requires non-routine attention, is different from what material your drain line is made from. I agree that if you have a sewer line that is regularly getting clogged, you know about it, then disclosure is typically required and if you don't disclose it, you may be liable.

Because it's on one form, someplace, doesn't mean it's on every form, everywhere. It's not on the NJ list of disclosure questions, nothing even close to it is. If you have a link to that disclosure form, I'd be happy to see it.

Reply to
trader_4

There are many real estate contracts which can be used in a transaction; one of which is the "as is" contract. I would suggest a lawyer draft the contract in order to protect the seller from future litigation.

Reply to
Mayhem

Also what Bob fails to account for is that if the seller had disclosed it at the time of sale, what would the buyer do? Just pay the same price anyway? Most likely they would have wanted the 10K discount off the price. So, strictly from a financial position, what's better? Taking a $10K for sure haircut today or taking the chance that the buyer *might* come after you at some point in the future and *try* to recover? At which point you could say, get lost, I'll give you $3K, $5k to settle, etc.

Note I'm not saying if you have a real known problem that is required by law to be disclosed, you shouldn't disclose it. Just that disclosing stuff that isn't required to be disclosed on the theory that someone might come after you later, doesn't make sense to me. If a disclosure form requires you to answer about orangeburg and you know you have it, then I would agree it should be disclosed. But just because you know you have it, if there isn't some actual ongoing problem, I would not be telling anyone about it.

Reply to
trader_4

Didn't we learn anything from the Clintons? Even perjury is legal if done properly.

Reply to
W2 Wage Slave

anyone can do anything. as my neighbor found out spending about 15% of the homes value to take care of the cots of a known issue.

now lets say OP fails to disclose it, and later gets the line hrdro jetted, at which point the line totally collapses and must be replaced....

the disclosure forms I signed had places like is their anything else that can effect the home??

there were news reports of a seller that failed to disclose a murder had been commited in the home......

they got sued for big bucks

remember getting sued will likely require hiring a lawyer, to protect you. they can be very costly

Reply to
bob haller

You said they had to pay $10K, so doing the math, they sold the house for $65K?

What specifically is the "it" they are failing to disclose? Just the existence of orangeburg pipe?

It could. And the buyer *could try* to come after you. As someone else pointed out, it also depends on what the sales contract says with regard to for example, selling it "as-is", with no warranties expressed or implied, etc. At which point you could tell them to get lost, or offer a couple thousand to settle. From a practical standpoint, about all they could do is threaten you or take you to small claims. It's not worth the cost of a lawsuit on the chance you might prevail and recover the cost of a new sewer line. Would you roll the dice, incur the legal fees? You could wind up paying for the sewer line and an equal amount in legal fees.

Somehow I doubt that they have questions as open ended and non-specific as that. And even if they do, is the typical home seller supposed to be an expert and predictor to somehow indentify *anything* that might affect the home in the future?

That goes both ways. It's actually more costly for the person bringing the suit, because they have to go first, so they are going to start running up legal fees before the defendant.

You can live in perpetual fear of being sued. You can disclose anything and everything under the sun, that isn't specifically required. For example, you can go take a look at the roof to try to figure out how much life it has left and then "disclose" that you *think* that itmay only have 10 years left. Wait..... Maybe you're wrong and it only has 5 years left, better make it

5 or 3 to be safe. So, now the buyer wants $10K off the price for a new roof. I say, the roof isn't leaking, it's functional, not my problem. You want to try to sue me later, if the roof leaks someday, go ahead, see how far you get. I'm willing to take my chances.
Reply to
trader_4

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