townhouse with full bath top floor, powder room mid floor, basement second newer full bath.

recently the basement shower has developed a slow drain

now if the basement toilet is flushed... waste will gurgle up into shower

I can do whatever I want in other bathroom and nothing happens but the second I shoeer or flush that it is problematic.

its public water sewer, county said their end was clear

had a plumber snake with a big snake twice. first time through shower but then issue happened again... so he went through toilet... still a problem.

instead he said he wants to take a jack hammer to my concrete floor to change the pitch type.

ive been here three years.. regular usage of that bathroom... would it really take this long for that to surface?


UPDATE:
Ok the sink trap was clogged, unclogged some weird gunky sludgy crap. Again, not sewer waste it didn't smell. So then it seemed to all be fine for 48 hours.. Ha.. wishful thinking. Now we are back to the same original issues.

So last night I was running all the basement bathroom fixtures and listening to the main waste pipe and it sounded like it was just trickling on by...

Then I turn it all off it eventually drained in about 5 mins time. A friend came over and inspected it ... he was plunging the shower.. I was standing near the mini vent behind that bathroom and it was making all sorts of gurgling noises... (I'm still considering popping that cap off and taking a peek in it.. I mean it sounded like the crap was at the top of that pipe which the SAME gunk that came out of sink trap is coming up into shower base).

SO then I go upstairs and turn powder room sink on... come down and listen to main pipe.. it sounds like a waterfall, easily flowing with speed and such...

SO it's GOT to be an issue in some sort of pipes in that Basement bathroom ALONE.

Still trying to avoid ripping the concrete floor and ceramic tiles up. Ughsauce! Then I'm wondering if it's only trickling out the pipe if perhaps the pipe has collapsed or something.... my friend that was over last night wants to try some hother things... I'm just trying to hold off on a big repair for as long as I can. Luckily my roommate isn't back until July so that gives me a few days to save some pennies.... (JUST had a new HVAC installed this month, so I realllllly don't want an expensive plumbing repair)



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the plumber may be right.
BUT, he/she should send a sewer camera down the drain before taking such drastic measures.

You mentioned that the basement washroom was the newer of two and hopefully the work was inspected and code approved. I also agree that a video camera inspection is much cheaper than breaking up the concrete.

Best Wishes

Yes I agree.

Because before he started working the second time to snake basement toilet... he's like if this doesn't work we will need to camera snake it.

But then after an hour or so and hearing him go OMG NO NO NO.... he then comes up and is like... yeah I'm going to need to take a jackhammer to your floor. Then he starts telling me whomever finished that basement did things illegal... including the vent and such... but it's a mini vent and I feel like that is ok considering what i've researched.

Is it also possible that they just put that basement bath on it's own connection to the main?

If I look in my laundry room near my utility sink there is a waste pump running from that basement bath... then if I look in the opposing corner I see two more thick pipes which I'm assuming come from the upstairs. I don't know if they'd be connected under the house at some point.

I appear to see two cap clean outs in the laundry room but I myself don't want to experiment with that. I do know if I run the basement bathroom sink it won't have the shower slow/back up. So it's like the issue is definitely between shower and toilet. And I noticed that waste pipe leading to laundry room has a million curves in it which just seems like it is asking for trouble.

But if the pitch was correct.. I shouldn't see water just chilling in the drain pipe under the shower, correct? Especially a week or two later after it was last used for a shower.

And then I'm wondering why he didn't just take the clean out cap off in the laundry room and snake it from there (I don't want to have him out again because he keeps wanting $200 each time even though the issue is still happening!)... I feel like something is still stuck in that waste pipe. He claimed he pulled out 4 feminine products... which was either thanks to a guest or my roomie, which denies doing such a thing. But if that basement bath truly is on it's own connection to the main then it seems like it is starting from that toilet.....

1. get a different plumber
2. He could NOT get a "large snake" through the shower drain
3. It would be VERY difficult to get a "larger snake" to go through a toilet opening
4. You do NOT "break up the floor" unless you know there is a problem
5. Even if he did break up the floor, there is little chance he could "change the slope" of the pipe.
6. REpeat of #!. Get a better plumber who knows HOW to snake the line properly, because that is your problem.

EVERYTHING your write in this posting, implies that he is completely clueless when it comes to clearing a drain, or at least YOUR drain.

Wow ok! Now I'm glad I didn't have all the money he wanted the second time... first time was $200 and he did yank out some things.. but it only lasted a week. Second time he wanted $160... but I only coughed up $80..

Ok! Now I feel better that I'm not crazy!

I will definitely find a different plumber!



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update

today I took the trap off my pedestal sink in the basement bathroom

wouldn't you know I pulled out some five inch long clog

so I put it all back together and now I can flush and shower drains like it should!

so my cousin hubby who referred me to first plumber I had out I was like why this plumber didn't think to do that..... hes like pure coincidence that it was clogged..

either way I had a quote for $400 to camera snake

now cleaning a little trap and getting dirty.... priceless.

I will monitor it over weekend and next week but I think it's good!



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Removing ANY kind of clog from the pedestal sink drain has absolutely NOTHING to do with the symptoms you described in your original posting and there is NO plumber who would have just "cleaned the sink drain" given your symptoms.

P.S., a camera is NOT the first option when a drain is clogged. It is only used AFTERWARDS to see the condition of the pipe, and even then I ONLY use one when there is a serious condition that requires further inspection.



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Well maybe whomever finished this basement bath and installed it did something wrong... but since I've removed that clog everything is draining properly...

My next plan is to take off the vent that is down there and make sure waste isn't filled to the top in there... because that vent for the bathroom did run RIGHT behind that sink which had a clog.... If it is to get slow again and not drain right... but so far for 48 hours we've been in better business than before! lol.



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ha yeah that didn't solve it

but now the stuff surfacing in shower looks like the same stuff I pulled from sink trap.

vent is right behind the sink... could it be the vent needing snaking?

Turns out the backwater valve flapper has stopped working the way it should... so it was clogging up right at that point.