Well, the inevitable happened.

The sewer line from my house to the city line has collapsed. Not surprising really, since it’s over 50 years old and a very old “technology“. (Photograph of Orangeberg pipe from sewerhistory.org)

The company, Mr. Rooter, came out this morning after I called and reported that the sewer was backing up. They tried to cable the pipe but hit a block at 20ft. We were able to see that on a camera that they snaked up into the line.

Once the block was cleared, the camera was able to see that the pipe has collapsed in multiple places. In one spot, it’s so separated that it looks like two pipes. So…they will now be digging another hole on the other side of the back yard and will begin the pipe replacement (assuming all goes well).

The procedure involves pulling a new pipe through the old one to perform a trenchless pipe replacement. This minimizes disruption to the yard (hopefully), and replaces the bad pipe - basically it shatters the old pipe and the new one takes its place underground.

Anyway - so we’re without use of our water facilities for the next day or so…

This is the joy of being a home owner.

This sarcastic entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 3:23 pm and is filed under House and Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.