as long as your tub drain isnt backing up. thats the lowest drain point in the system usually. that would indicate you got problems in your line going out to the street.

 

take a picture what it looks like under the sink, were they tie in together, typically your washer should have it's own stand pipe,it shouldn't tie in with even a laudry tub let alone your kitchen sink bad design, let me see what it looks like an i can come up with a solution.

 

Homes built in the 50's frequently used that tar paper-like crap for the main sewer line out to the street. Once those start to go, forget it - you are looking at a main line replacement.

If your main cleanout plug is reasonably accessible, go rent a power snake from Home Depot that's long enough to reach the street and see what it comes up with. If it pulls out a lot of tree roots, your main line life is just about over.

I had to have my whole main line replaced last year - it was 75 feet. Cost me $2700, which is CHEAP - back up in the Chicago area it would have been about 6 grand.

 

i will tonight i got to go to work now

 

or they used clay pipe. you should have at leat 3 inch cast going into your basement slab. it could turn into that tar or clay pipe down the line who knows. if you do have a cleanout which you should careful unscrewing it..rememebr about cast being brittle...but like i was saying as long as your tub isnt backing up bad i think your ok as far as main line problems. how many vents on the roof and what are the pipe diameters??

 

glc

"Homes built in the 50's frequently used that tar paper-like crap for the main sewer line out to the street. Once those start to go, forget it - you are looking at a main line replacement."

The pipe is called Orangeburg.

 

here is the pictures

https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?num=14360

 

Ah, galvanized steel piping. That's not how these two drains would be piped today.

In one of the pictures I can see the bottom of a rubber coupling with a stainless steel clamp on the vent stack. Is this a Fernco coupling? If that rubber fitting is a coupling then you should be able to loosen the clamps, loosen the rubber coupling and be able to get a snake in from there. If that is in fact a coupling then this problem has probably happened before.

The blockage could be far away depending on the proximity to a toilet. The closer a fixture with a larger drain, the closer that the kitchen/laundry drain will tie into the large drain. The blockage is almost certainly on the smaller branch drain. You can get an idea of how far the blockage is by seeing how long it takes the drain to back up. Obviously the faster it backs up the closer the blockage.

If you had to you could remove the PVC piping from under the kitchen sink and snake from the branch of the TY. Like I said earlier, it can be tough to get the snake to go down the drain. Especially with gavanized fittings. That's why if that is a Fernco coupling above it'll be a lot easier to snake from there.

 

I have been a plumber for for 35 years. Here is the deal, your lateral (horizontal branch) for the K. sink/laundry is stopped up. probably has taberculation on the cast iron if that is what it is. Needs a cable ran down from the roof vent to this portion of the lateral. Run hot water in KS while you are doing this. A small hand snake is probably not going to be sufficient. A K-50 or 60 machine is what you need. This is a simple job that would be a minimal cost to you. Your building drain (major branch) is fine and I know this because you did not say that water was coming up the tub drain. DO NOT USE CLOBBER or any other drain cleaner. Had second degree burns from what a home owner put down a drain and did not tell me. I pulled the cable out and drain cleaner was flying all over the place and it also ate holes in my jeans almost instantly. Your Wife will also kill you for making her house smell like sulpher. It will also eat up very bad chrome drain lines under the sink. Good luck

 

He is correct. The line is grease clogged from the kitchen sink. Snake it with the hottest water you can get. Then pressure wash with hot water. Then repeat. When you are clear you can run a hose full blast down there without problem. A hose connected to the hot water heater is the best way to get the hot water.

 

if you had to guess how much an a looking at to call a plumber?

 

when i work with my buddy on big jobs he gets $50 just to show up and then like 50$ an hour after that. he works alone most of the time. a bigger company might hit you for a little more. ask friends who they use. a good honest plumber is worth there weight in gold.

 

Wow, your buddy is cheap! I'm out here in western MA and our small company gets sixty-five an hour for one licensed man. We're cheaper than most of the plumbing companies in the area. When I was going to school for my masters license the corse I took was in the eastern part of MA and some of the plumbers in my class said they were getting over a hundred an hour for one man. That was several years ago.

I'd guess that a job like this could take a couple hours.


Wouldn't it be easier to cut in a dandy closer to the base of the stack with a couple of Missions? There should be one there anyhow. I don't like to work on the roof unless I have to. In one of his pictures it appears that someone may have already cut the stack and coupled it with a Fernco. It might be easier to snake from there.

 

i know hes cheap but he just got his journeymans license so... its just him for now. ill help on bigger jobs. once he get his masters and a bigger client base he might take me on full time so i can start putting my hours towards my journeymans.i work for a big real estate company doing maintenace work they have around 400 apartment units in mass alone. id love to get my journeymans but... trying to find the time to get the hours in.

 

As you know plumbing isn't glamorous in any way, shape or form. It is a good field to be in though. I would highly reccomend taking an opportunity to serve an apprenticeship and get a license. You probably won't get rich but you'll always have work.