I'd like to root out my waste line running to the sewer. It appears to me that this runs through a neighbors property, a long way to go, before it dumps in the sewer.
I'd like to find exactly where my sewage line is located. Is there a way I can find the path? I have some off the wall ideas, but how is this done commercially?
Jeff
A transmitter on the end of a snake fed down the drain line by one person, and a receiver unit operated by another person tracking the location of the transmitter underground and marking the path.
Lots of ways. If metal line, a simple metal detector. If terra cotta or orangeburg, some educated guessing and gentle poking with a long rod. Hi-tech way is to shove a transponder on a cable down your cleanout, and track from above with a sensor. Plus, of course, if your local sewer and water kept decent outside plant records (yeah, I know), or if your purchase paperwork included a rough plat, there may even be a record. Unless you are on a flag lot or something, if there is a sewer line down your street, it probably follows the shortest practical path from your basement wall to street. Of course, if there USED to be a big-ass tree in front yard, it may detour around that spot. There are always exceptions, of course, like if the street used to end at your lot, and they didn't run the sewer all the way to the end. And sometimes, in old urban blocks with alleys and rear-entry garages (and before backhoes and cheap pipe), the sewer actually ran down the alley. Usual caveat that the CL of platted streets and alleys is often several feet off the as-built pavement, and platted alley sometimes never get paved, and ends up vacated. And of course, if the sewers are a retrofit, they may not be under the street at all.
But having babbled all that, it'll cost you a hundred or so to have it mapped out, and get a set of those cute little flags. Experience helps a lot, and the local pros will know the local usual and customary practices.
Oh, and one last note- if you have to dig up part of the line, unless it crosses a driveway or expensive patio, dig it all up and replace it, and never have to worry about it again. Life is too short, etc.
Usually you only need to know up to the city property and then it is their problem. Septic guys push cameras down the pipes.
I'd like to find exactly where my sewage line is located. Is there a way I can find the path? I have some off the wall ideas, but how is this done commercially?
Jeff
Indeed. What worries me is the 175' that I believe it crosses the neighbors property.
With that said, I think I've found just the Mexicans to do it. One of them came up to me at the Borg looking for work, any work. They claimed to know shingling so I brought them home to work on my dried in roof after putting $5 gas in their truck. They were hungry too.
I was suspicious, but it was immediately obvious they knew what they were doing, and were dead fast, and very good. I feel very lucky, and I think they do too. It's nice when it works out that way. Not what I was expecting.
Thanks.
Jeff
>
I wish I lived close to you, and I'd do it for free. Witch it.
Take two Tabasco bottles and empty them. Make two L shaped pieces of baling wire. The short leg should be 1/2" longer than the bottles are deep so the ends of the wires sit on the bottom of the inside of the bottle. The long leg should be 12". Put one in each bottle. Hold them in front of you with elbows bent, with your wrists touching your belly on the side, and so that they are only very very very slightly facing forward and tilted so they drop towards the front of you. They should be about 16" apart. Walk around, and when you cross a line, they will swing to a straight line across your body. To test it, take a section of any pipe and lay it on the ground and try it. Try it with a tin can or tin can lid. Getting the light touch where it is almost vertical, but canted just a little forward is critical so you can utilize their sensitivity. Now walk over the suspected pipe from a 90 degree angle. Use little cones, or those landscape flags on wires, and you will soon have a very nice picture on top of the ground.
I have had many people tell me this won't work. Then I throw a tin can lid on the ground, and the wires cross over it. Or I have people hide a can lid, and I find it. It works for PVC, too, the water in the PVC having some sort of electromagnetic field.
Make a set. They will cost you a couple of bucks. Have some fun. They work, and I've found lots of lines with them.
Caveats: Power lines, both overhead and buried will cause them to go crazy. And they don't work for everyone. Turn off electrical devices. Leave your cell phone a distance away. Turn off other electronic locators. If they do work for you, you got a valuable tool for $5. If you ever don't have Tabasco bottles, you can use PVC with caps, or just held loosely enough in your hands so they tilt forward a little. The hole through your hands should be about as big as a broomstick, and the wires touching you in the top front, and back rear of your hands.
Let us know how it works. I have surprised and silenced many people.
Steve
There's also a little transmitter on the end on some, and a sensor that beeps when you walk over it.
Steve
Keep the contact information for those workers.
My son's next door neighbor is a Guatemalan who does handy-man type jobs.
The guy dug up about 80' of my son's sewer line and replaced the thin, plastic, original sewer pipe with some of that 1/2" thick green stuff, connected both ends, and put the yard all back to the original condition. I can't remember what my son paid, but I think it was in the neighborhood of $300, everything included.
Now the Guatemalan neighbor knows another Hispanic that works for an A/C company and moonlights at night. He replaced my 3-ton compressor unit with a one-year old used one three years ago. My cost was $650. (He started work at 8:00 p.m. and was done at 10:30.)
A reliable, off-books, worker is a big help in these parlous times.
I have tried this and it worked for me when I had to find a sewer line's path under a concrete slab in a basement. Don't know if my 'estimate' of the line's path had any affect on the rods or not but I found the line. I just used two pieces of coat hanger wire held loosely in my hands.
why not try rock salting the sewer line?. its near free 25 pounds of rock salt cost 3 bucks here at the grocery store.you can also use softener salt. the salt kills roots but doesnt hurt the tree
its quick and done a few times a year becomes a maintence item.
much of the line replacement cost is based on depth of existing line....
mine is 8 feet deep and they will have to use stuff so the ditch cant collapse on the workers.
i got estimates of 8 to 10 grand over 10 years ago.
so 10 bucks a year for rock salt isnt a issue:)
Don't count on it. When I replaced mine three years ago, I had to take it to the sewer main connection, even though this meant installing it through 30' of the city's dirt. Didn't bother me, because that 30' is also part of my yard, plus the cost of that last 30' was small. But I had to take it to the city facility, not just to city property.
(And for those who say I should have used rock salt ... I was replacing Orangeburg. Was only going to get worse.)
Edward
Same here but I have my doubts about the accuracy.
I have:
Lots of other things playing with them but where results were proven there were usually visual clues to what I found. From my limited tests, most people can use them.
The rods are really fun (and very scary for soem people) to play with but I don't bet money on them.
Harry K
I'm so glad it worked out for you. Too bad I can't say the same for the legal American citizen who is out of work and drawing welfare cuz you wanted save a couple bucks.
nb
And why isn't the "legal American citizen" standing around the Home Depot parking lot with a sign around his neck reading "Will work for sex" or similar?
I have never noticed a non-Hispanic hustling for work outside the big-box stores.
If you live in the city, the sewer department lads can locate your line for you. In our small town, this was a freebie when I needed it done. There may be a charge in larger communities, just ask. It won't take more than half to one hour to do, really simple. If you need a commercial firm to do it, the asking price should reflect the modest time involved.
Joe
Buying commie handguns and standing up for Hispanics? Who the hell ARE you and what did you do with the real HeyBub? (-:
FWIW, when I had a large tree limb fall, it was a crew of three Hispanic men driving by looking for work saw it, knocked on my door, quoted a price, sawed it up, carted it all away and cleaned up with a leaf vacuum for $75. If anything, they're the ones keeping the American spirit of making your own fortune alive.
My "legal" landscaper arrived two days too late. When a similar sized branch fell recently, he was Johnny on the spot, and wanted $300 for virtually the same sized job. Plus, he wanted the balance of $150 before he removed the logs and detritus, knocking on my door every day this week until I finally said "you get paid in full AFTER you finish the job," reminding him of several unfinished tasks which he had been paid for but didn't fully perform. He walked away with a pissed off look like he was getting ripped off. Sadly, he has a gambling/drinking problem and paying him in advance has proven to be the same as setting fire to the money. Too bad. He does great work when he needs the money but I know now not to pay even $20 in advance.
The two Hispanic gents who delivered and installed my new fridge were well-mannered, punctual and really knew what the hell they were doing. As you noted, you don't see "legal American citizens" working that hard. The last time I was approached by a LAC, he was trying to sell me questionable-looking cardboard boxed meat out of the back of a pickup truck.
-- Bobby G.
The problem with trying to go about it legally by a citizen is the crap the government puts any citizen through who wants to set up a business. License? We don't need no stinking license. Is what gives a lot of those on the fringes a leg up when it comes to work. There are LAC's who have the motivation and desire to work but they're often hard to find because many don't want to fight city hall for little return. I know a guy who receives VA benefits and will do contracting when he gets bored but he told me he could sit on his butt and survive rather than fight the government in order to work. Besides, it's easier for the government to track down and screw with a citizen because they know where to find us.
TDD
So you checked the citizenship status of the person of Mexican ancestry he hired?
I've run a very small business, and it wasn't a big deal paperwork wise. No license required for most stuff, just a sales tax permit and filing the sales tax paperwork regularly which isn't a big deal.
You also don't need to run a business to make some extra money, there are a lot of freelance (1099) opportunities if you look for them. I have a freelance job I do on the side with some regularity that pays $35/hr for what is typically 2-3 long days of work each month or so. It's not a big deal to keep track of for taxes, just adjust withholding on your regular job to account for your anticipated freelance income, or make separate tax payments during the year to cover the freelance work.
How do you take care of the SS?
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