My basement floor drain backed up 3 times last winter, had to dig up the whole thing myself

This happened back in February during that cold snap. Our basement drain started gurgling and then water came up all over the floor. Called a plumber first time, they said it was tree roots but after they cleared it, it happened again 2 weeks later. Tried drano and a snake myself but no luck. Ended up renting a jackhammer and digging up about 6 feet of floor to get to the pipe. Found out the old clay pipe had collapsed in one spot. Replaced it with PVC for about 200 bucks in materials. Has anyone else dealt with old clay sewer lines in Edmonton? How deep did you have to dig?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_fisher1mo ago

My neighbor had the exact same issue with his clay pipes but he tried to fix it by pouring concrete over the whole mess. Took him three weekends to chisel it all back out when the backing up got worse. Sometimes old school fixes just make more work than the original problem.

nathana481mo ago

Oh man, that concrete story hurts to read. Tbh @jesse_fisher, I think your neighbor might've been better off just doing a spot repair with some epoxy or a sleeve liner first. Honestly, pouring concrete over clay pipes is a wild move because concrete expands and contracts different than clay, so it usually just cracks and makes everything worse. Ngl, sometimes the simple fix like replacing a single section of pipe saves way more time than trying to patch over a whole mess. Plus chiseling concrete out of a clay line is basically asking for more pipes to shatter.