I thought of this too, and it was the source of the trouble for my house when I had some sewage backup. Fucking gross beyond words, not to mention seriously unsanitary. The answer was to bring in one of those BFG commercial rooters the size of a generator with mileage markers on the snake that went up to triple digits. He galumphed that monster down my basement stairs and setup at my main cleanout, just inches from the floor drain in the basement on the main waste stack. He fired it up and fed the snake down the pipe. rrrrRRRRRrrrrrrRRRRRrrrrrRRRRR... he kept this up for a while, frequently withdrawing the snake for inspection/etc. He brought it up and there was some foul witches' hair in a giant gross mass. Not hair, *roots*. Very fine, very many, growing through the concrete pipe laid down at construction time (70 plus years ago). He was waaaay waaaaaaaay past where my longest snake could ever have reached, and his cutting head was sized for the six inch pipe.

There was a happy ending (not that kind) and I haven't had any sewer backup problems since--zero.

UT mentioned a greywater holding tank, that sounds like he's on a septic system, something I know less about since my main experience is on city sewers. But he absolutely has, at a minimum, a problem with his sewer/septic line drains. This, in my opinion, is the responsibility of the property owner to fix.

No it's on the public water, I was thinking that *I* could do a greywater solution as a temporary fix to my laundry.

I hope that the toilet didn't flush into the kitchen sink, it's a 1.6 gallon and the place does slowly drain.... ermagherd I'm gonna have to test that though

This is what I was about to say before glatt kindly said it first. If the whole house is draining slowly, the main sewer pipe needs professional (de)rooting.

Well it is in fact raw sewage draining into my kitchen sink and my basement, and the management company's plumber did not call me today.

Can the health dept help you? That is disgusting!

Raw sewage is much better for you than that processed shit.

http://cellar.org/2012/wtfpipe.jpg

This is a vent to outgoing pipe. The plumber found that the system is 100% blocked and the blockage appears to be concrete or something exactly like it.

Will the farmhouse be condemned? I'm suggesting they deliver me a chemical toilet and I can shower at a friend's every two days.

Yikes! Who pours concrete in to the pipes? And how did the landlord not know about this?

WTF?

Did the previous tenant leave on Bad Terms? 'cause as a way to screw your landlord, concrete in the sewer drain is a kicker.

So, move.

Start now.

No need to move if they fix it. It will be expensive for the landlord, but the landlord doesn't really have a choice. Get a backhoe in there, dig a trench, and drop a new line in. Could be done in a day if they can line someone up that fast.

This looks like a job for ....


SHITMEN!!!!

Like I said... put it in writing and mail it 1st class.

State and HUD regs deal with this, and if the place is un-liveable,
the landlord just might be financially responsible for moving you into,
and paying your rent for, another place.

Seriously... heat, water, sewage are essential services... everywhere in the US.

<< Real Estate Pro here. Put the problem(s) in writing, take photos, and mail it certified, return receipt requested. Ask for immediate resolution. Check online for legal notice periods for tenants and landlords (they vary by state). Give him that period of time before you start threatening legal stuff.

Before I got to this last picture, I was guessing blocked sewer vent. If that sucker is blocked, for whatever reason (and I also mean the one out the roof), it can fubar your entire drainage system. I had a 90 year old house (lots of DIY repairs by previous owners) and the underground sewer pipes were full of roots and they sort of neglected to put in an air vent for the added on bathroom downstairs. Oh the heartache, backache and headache figuring that out gave me. The picture and your plumber confirmed my thoughts.

Gotta be what happened.

Previous tenant was family of the owner.

was he in the ready-mix business?

Suppose you were feeding hobos through some kind of mincer/grinder, but the fat congealed as it got colder down the pipe .... hmmmm ....

The way I operate is people get a chance to fix things first and I don't have to do anything until they don't fix it. The property management lady is now on top of it, has a sense of urgency (she was working it after hours last night), and has a plan in place where we try to dig it out with a power tool on Friday morning. That is reasonable. Nobody has to get all legal or panicky until it isn't or can't be fixed.

I generally get things by being super nice and understanding. I made the property management love me already, by having an emotional breakdown in their offices at lease signing, over my then just dying dog. I expressed to them that my mom was an investment property landlord, and I know what good and bad tenants are. They permanently know and remember me in that office and at the moment I benefit from a little goodwill. If I get all hardass now I lose that.

I still want to live here. They didn't know this condition existed. It was impossible to test for.

I think you're handling it perfectly. They know that they have to fix it.

UT, I understand and agree with your approach.

But, giving proper written notice does not make you a s-o-b.
It is just the fairest legal way for tenants and landlords to deal with one another.

It establishes the tenant's rights, which are necessary to avoid possible future
events such as law suits for unpaid/past due rent, eviction, and/or retaliation by the landlord.
If tenants are in a lease or month-to-month agreement, they cannot just walk away,
and certainly can not make repairs or alterations on their own
- usually unless they have (usually) written consent of the landlord.

Each state may be different in how written notices are to be delivered.
First class mail is the default manner, but you need to know what is required in your state.
In Oregon, others forms, such as registered, certified, return notice mailings, are not legally valid notices.

Lastly remember, all Property Managers, like Real Estate agents (by whatever title),
have a fiduciary responsibility to the property owner... not to the tenant.

Friendliness does go a long way ... right up to the point that $ is involved.

Sure, but the owner didn't have to give me hundreds of dollars in electricity credits or agree to pay for the alarm system. On good faith and money for nothing, they are well ahead of me. And if they correct the problems there is nothing to document. I'm not making work for me and everyone.

It sounds like the management company is getting right to work on the issue, and I agree, UT - keeping established goodwill is gold. Things can always get formal but hopefully they won't have to.

I always try this first.

ok, so you never said anything about any of this shit before. you tell us you've got raw sewage backing up in your new place, and that you'll go shower at a friends, and shit in a porta potty.

and then when we say DO SOMETHING, you get all cool.

wtf dude.

[ QUOTE ] [ url = ok, so you never said anything about any of this shit before.] Yeah i did, in this thread [ / url ] [ / QUOTE ]

fixd

fine.

so what do you have to say about acting all cool? hmmm???

Not sure I get this. I wasn't looking for advice on how to act, I was relating a new difficulty in my ridiculous life that occurred the same day as my dog dying.

Ok, I'll explain myself, and then I'll stop offering advice on this topic, as I clearly don't grok your situ.

My first post (#325) was me being frustrated at you because I perceived that you were moving into a fucked up unsanitary place with water in the oil, and shitty water backing into your kitchen sink, and you were apparently just bending over and taking it. That's how it seemed to me. Perhaps you underplayed the reaction of the management company. Perhaps I didn't read for comprehension. I clearly missed post #94.

Anyway, It seemed like you were telling us that you were getting fucked over, and then turning around and defending the fuckors. meh.


The 2nd post, was me backpedaling and trying to be funny.

I didn't say anything about your friend Pearl dying. Not in this thread at least.

SO, I Hope it all works out quickly and cleanly, and that your relationship with your landlord survives unscathed.

srsly.

OK well to clarify, I'm not getting fucked over; I'm inconvenienced by circumstances, which actually are not that bad. As you've noted, roofers shit in buckets. I could do that too. I have no pride, no shame, and no matter how horribly I treat myself I will be in better hygienic condition than my customers.

In fact, many people enjoy replicating my conditions, by going camping in tents. I have it better than they do. They have to shit in the woods. I could comfortably shit inside and then carry it to the woods. I have it great!

My life has become insanely surreal, mostly by my choice. That is what I'm documenting.

When you decide to move to a fucked up little farmhouse, this is part of the deal you strike. Things are going to be unpredictable. The place was built in the 1930s and halfway retrofitted for modern anything. It should have been bulldozed years ago, except that it was too close to student housing and too much on a hill for modern McMansion comforts.

It's fucked up. But that's also what I like about it. I could choose predictable plumbing, modern heating systems with central air, super modern appliances, and wall to wall carpeting instead of painted wood floors. But I'd also have to pay $500 more a month and have neighbors connected directly to my house. Most people prefer that, but I like this.

The RE management company couldn't have predicted the drainage problem, there's no way to test for it. They might have tested the furnace; since it worked for three days to begin with, they wouldn't have discovered anything. They did a lot of work getting it into a state where somebody could move in and I don't know what they discovered that I wasn't aware of.

jim, consider yourself buttƒucked in the mouth


AND on report

flint,

consider my balls.

stop making that face.

Kindest sir,
I consider them a disgrace.

Yours truly,
P.S. Warmest regards,
P.S.S. "Happy Holidays"

Everything drains.

Fhew crisis somehow averted

Good, plus they don't hate you.

tony- I was going to say things can ONLY get better from here but I'm too old to fall for that trick and I suppose you are, too.

However, I am sorry and my heart hurts that this has all happened to you within a week or so of Pearl passing and I'm sorry about the drains and alll----I hate plumbing, car problems and lost money. but you've got a great attitude and I wish you the best.

PS--my cellar has water in it (a little or a lot depending on rainfall) every fucking time it rains. I know. I have roto rooter every 18 moths. No matter what.

Oh yeah, and that. That, you know, lasting thing that continues to effect every single that happens for the duration of the relationship. That probably is important, right?

Last night I lost my keys while at the pawn shop. Probably dropped them in the street while I was getting lunch.

Yeeeeeeah. FML once again. When your life is in disarray, you don't operate normally. You don't put your keys in the same coat pocket, and put them down on the same desk every night. And so you lose them. I just gave myself a lot of pain and chores -- and car rental fees, to solve this problem until I can solve this problem.

This one isn't about the house, except that, pre-locksmith, I was able to break in so easily. Sammy at work suggested that the plumbing problem, the free alarm system, and the weak bolt on the basement door all say "Students broke into this house when it was vacant, and partied here, and threw shit down the toilet that they weren't supposed to." This theory is excellent.

He haveth wisdom of the fuckethed up.

There's book smarts, there's street smarts, then there's ghetto-pawnshop-broker smarts.

The other option is meth lab. You DID check for that, didn't you?

What evidence should I look for?

Bringin' this one back,

For the last few weeks there has been raw sewage draining into my back yard. I figured this out when one section of grass was MUCH MUCH greener and thicker than the rest of the yard.

I reported this to the RE management, and they sent a dude out who handed me a bottle of something and told me to pour the stuff in the shitter and flush twice.

It turns out that this is a septic system, and septic systems require maintenance. I never had one before. It turns out the emergency septic treatment liquid is a bunch of bacteria and enzymes that eat sewage sludge. The stuff goes down there and converts your black waste ooze into something more... drainable?

These bacteria literally eat shit and die.

Anyway, the treatment didn't work and there is still sewage in my backyard, so I just went and bought a bottle of the stuff myself. It says flush twice, but then don't flush again, and try not to drain any water for 24 hours. The dude didn't tell me that, so I'm guessing that I inadvertently messed up the first treatment.

24 hours began after the morning duke. Wish me luck.

Septic tanks need to be pumped out every few years ,
Shitty Job , but some body has to do it

I've been told that the box o' bacterium is bull. You just have to pump it every few years and don't flush anything that kills bacteria, so heavy use of chlorine (bleach etc.) is a no no.

I can't begin to tell you how pleased I am that you refer to your feces as Duke

We've never had our septic cleaned out. In fact, I've been told specifically not to have this done because it upsets the balance of the septic system.

We get our grease trap cleaned out every few months. That separates the grey water from the sludge and stuff that goes down the drains in the form of dirt and (obviously) grease.

Maybe you guys don't have grease traps over there and that's why they have to be cleaned out?

That's exactly why. The Great State of Pennsylvania, in its infinite wisdom, insists that grey water go into the septic system. Toad has an old timey leach field and may actually have a separate grey water route. My thoroughly modern super duper PA code version has a three chamber tank with pump to feed the great sand mound. All of which may eventually fail because we need to send all soap and grease into the dookie tank.

Grease and oil does Not go down the drain !!!!!!
We have a tank and leech field(put in by the now county judge ),
Problem is the ground around here don, t perk (absorb liguid ) for shit ,
And there is a few damp spots, so i fully expect a neighbor to nark us out again to the health dept , again

We have (I had--w00t) a cesspit, c.1850. Just a big dome of dry stacked shale about 8 feet deep and 15 feet in diameter. Gets pumped out about every year now since it is failing, when we get really heavy rains it fills with ground water and takes a few days to drain back down. Most of our neighbors' cesspits have failed in the past few years and they've replaced them. Costs about 5-7 grand. At $200 a pump out, you could do two a year and it would still take you 12 to 15 years to break even.

The yeast/bacteria stuff sort of works. The guys who pump your tank will tell you it's BS. Yeast and some fungi will eat oil and grease, probably some bacteria too. What happens with the cesspits is the dry stack stone gets packed in with solids and won't percolate the liquid through.

A neighbor has 2 55 gallon drums and a pipe into the woods , ssssssssss not many folks know

I think your definition of neighbor differs from mine.

A tank collects solids. Then liquids flow out to the leach field. Bacteria will decompose only some solids. Eventually the tank must be cleaned out.

Bacteria is to increase the decomposition. But once tank or field water is observed on the surface, then nothing short of digging can fix it.

In some cases, it might be a broken or blocked pipe from the tank to the field. In worst cases, the leach field must be dug up and reconstructed. Once water appears, then no 'magic bottle' will fix it. Especially with so little rain. And when earth in that venue is sand - soil that perks quite well.

tw knows his shit.

you need a gong farmer

There is still water on the surface, but no water at the top of the vent pipe, so I'm hopeful. It's one week so far, supposed to wait two weeks to prove it's better or not better.

In the meantime, don't walk barefoot on the squishy part of the lawn.