Okay, finally got a drain company out to look at the abandoned floor drains and washer standpipe in the basement of my 1960 cookie cutter. Drains were full of dirt, and a test run of water into washer standpipe (when I moved in a couple years ago) came up in one of the floor drains an hour later. Anyway, even with big power auger, drain guy couldn't get any further in pipes than I had gotten with a hand snake. He stuck his fiber optic camera down there with the 2-foot lead, to get past the drain casting or the elbow where standpipe goes into wall, and claimed that all 3 pipes were 'rusted shut'. This is typical 2" glavanized drain pipe. Can that really rust shut? The well water here is pretty mineral-laden- would it more likely be mineral buildup, aka 'tea kettling'? They recommended abandoning the drains- while they did have a tool to cut stuff like that, they said pipe was so weakened that it would likely leak anyway, and no guarantee they could unblock it, and it was horribly expensive. Would a 55-gallon drum of Lime-Away be worth trying? :^)
Related question- I presume cutting slab (about 30 feet of trenching), new drains and lines, and outside excavation to spot a new drywell, would be many thousands of dollars? And not likely to payback on resale? Basement is mostly dry, except some floor-level seepage under a buried patio that occurs after heavy rains. (I think I can address that by flashing, sealing and grading when I have the deck apart for reskinning One Of These Days.)
2nd related question- at sale time, which would be more off-putting to prospective buyers- 3 non-functional drains, or patches where I cut back the metal parts and mudded over the holes with sakcrete? There is a sump pit, that stays bone-dry, but no pump or painless route to run a drain line, other than into the same collector on wall where washer, furnace, and softener drain into. I already plan to add a box and electric pump into that drain, to get the abandoned sink that apparently went into floor drain, working again.Open to ideas here- any suggestions from people dealing with similar middle-age cookie cutter houses greatly appreciated.
aem sends....