Plumbing woes... drain leak under slab

[Lotek]

I have spent all day trying to get an idea of what is going on down there. Noticed water soaking the parquet in the corner of the bedroom, found the tub sump flooding only when the kitchen sink drains, not with the bathroom sink, tub or toilet. Run water down the vent stack it doesn't leak, ran a snake far enough in so that it had to have been in the stack 1 time, reran it with a spade bit, and it seems to stop just short, I can hear it rattling under the slab not too far from where it intersects the stack, I'm thinking the pipe has broken, been undermined and shifted under the slab so the snake can't get through. The friend with the snake suggested having a plumber come out and run a camera down the pipe to find out what is going on. Sound like a plan? What does that usually run, how about cutting the hole in the slab? Sunday night, and I can't get any answers till tomorrow.

 

[6768rogues]

Before I retired from a public school, we paid about $1000 every time we had a line video taped. I finally spent $8000 and bought a camera system.

 

[gmwelder86]

Most plumbing shops around here cost 150 an hr mim 2 hrs and any decent sized shop will have a camera. Just tell them whats going on and what you want.

 

[JSmiley]

I had a hot water slab leak and the plumber wanted a good $400 just to break the concrete out. Then had to figure out what exactly was wrong. I went and purchased a bulldog bosch rotary hammer and a few bits. Was able to cut a 12x12 hole in the slab myself in just 2 hours and fix the problem myself. Would have easily been $600+ for the repair and I did it for under $250 and about 3 hours of my time. Plus I have a new tool for the next problem.

Smiley

 

[camarotoolman]

You can rent a hammer drill or buy a used one and resell when done. (ebay) You could have a root that has invaded you pipe. That happened to my slab house. It took it 15 years to get there but it did. I dug & choped around the out side of the slab, so far its been working. Good luck!

 

[betterbillt]

If you've got it narrowed down why pay somebody to tell you what you already know. I'm more in the make a hole and see what's going on for real catagory. Things to think about, are what other pipes and might be in the slab in that area.

 

[Lotek]

I've already got the hammerdrill sitting here, shouldn't be any other pipes in the way. This is what I think it looks like down there, with the drains coming in from different angles, since nothing else floods, I'm hoping it's close to the surface.

 

[Krash Kadillak]

See if your H/O insurance covers it. Mine did - twice.

(Note: They won't cover the repair of the actual broken part - but it should cover the damage - ruined walls, floors, etc.

 

[35mm]

I just paid someone $100 to come out and run a camera in my main drain. He was here for a couple hours.

 

[rwhite692]

Accurate leak detection is money well spent. Our local guy is 100 bucks for an hour, 1-hour minimum. It is worth every penny, because you will know ***exactly*** where to make the hole in the slab to get to, and perform the repair.

Or, you can bash away at it and "save" the 100 clams, and have yourself a nice 3 foot wide hole to fix up when you are done finding and fixing the problem.

 

[Lotek]

Plumber's crew is coming out Wed morning, spent half the morning with a hammerdrill, need a jackhammer, slab is 6" thick and the plumber thinks I may be digging in the wrong place anyway. I'm spending the rest of the day removing the cabinet in the corner, had plans to remodel in a year or so, guess that's pushed up a bit. He has a guy with a camera that they use, but he suggested that in a 2" drain, it may not help much, it's a short run, so the hole wouldn't be much smaller, and it will be under the cabinets anyway. I'm going to fix the slab myself, that will save something. 60 year old pipes, first real plumbing problem.

 

[Frank The Plumber]

To get an idea of what is going on it is sometimes best to establish points of flow. Determine if the water is going out to the street, if it is keep heading upstream, find a cleanout along the way and check it for flow, run a sink or something and determine flow. Sometimes you can put some dish soap in the waters to make certain the path is correct.

Keep going upstream until you get to the points that are is doubt. You can check your local area for a sewer contractors tool supply, I rent a camera unit, about a $12,000 see snake by Kohlmann. The rental fee on the unit in my area is roughly $125 per 24 hour period. This unit has a camera that really needs a 3" pipe to fit down. You can not see a thing in a pipe full of water. If the pipe is full of water and you want to see, pull the lines dry with a wet dry vac until they are clear enough to view a possible problem. You can rent a locator for the See snake for about another 50 bucks. With this you mine sweep the area and the locator will show you exactly where fun is, what angle the line runs and the depth that the signal tip is resting at. You may want to learn all of this on your own. The more you know the less the guy can turn you upside down and shake out your extra coins. I go in behind a lot of estimates to give a survey of the situation, I find a lot of BS'ers.

 

[rwhite692]

It's not just a camera that you want to be using. Accurate leak detection guys use a snake which (in addition to having the camera on the end of it) has a RF tansmitter on it. They snake that down the pipe to where the camera is right at the trouble spot, then they use a RF receiver to pinpoint the exact location directly above where the trouble spot is, "X marks the spot". Pay the man, then rent a wet saw and be done with the whole job in a couple hrs.