I was clearing out the space near the walls of my basement so I could have some French drains/sump pump installed next week and I noticed a foul stench in my basement. Upon investigating I found a hole at the bottom of my main stack which appears to have been corroded over time.

My question is what kind of a repair am I looking at here? I'd put my level of DIY skill at novice-to-intermediate, but I really don't want to screw up the plumbing any more than it may already be.

Here is a link to a picture of the problem: [mattcroce.com]

Any help/ideas are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

That is not a small repair. You are looking at cutting into the wall and opening up a tunnel big enough to work in so that the existing pipe can be accessed past the next joint. While a person with some skill and a lot of time could potentially do the work themselves, it is a job that should really be handled by a professional. You could undermine the basement wall and cause the foundation to shift in the next couple of years, causing the wall to sag. Having that happen would warp all the door frames and window frames, change the roof line, and generally cause catastrophic damage to your home. My recommendation is to get your sewer line video inspected, and check the condition of the line overall first; there may be another damaged spot close by that you can't see. Get at least 3 estimates for repairs. Listen to the advice of the guy on site and if something doesn't sound right, check with the guys here for any glaring red flags. Compare the bids on an apples to apples footing.. If the recommendations are all the same and one bid is out of range of the other 2, find out why. There might be something that one guy caught that the other 2 missed, or maybe one is B.S.ing you. Make sure the contractor is licensed, bonded, and insured. Get details in writing before any work is done. Have the job inspected.

WOW! ALL of that could happen because he has to make a bigger opening in the wall ABOVE the footing? It is not a DIY job, because you have to excavate down the the pipe on the outside and replace the pipe going through the wall and that elbow.

DITTO KCROTO

the issue is at least partially in a footing

get three proposals

pick one

put that proposal (paraphrased) out to bid so you are comparing apples to apples

LICENSED - INSURED - BONDED (get a CURRENT copy of the bond)


TEMPORARILLY you can 'stuff' the hole with a rag (not too far inside) and sandbag it in place to minimize the outflow - pour kitty litter around and over the sandbags

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

that almost looks like someone made a small hole to stick a snake wire into, patched it afterwoods and the patch is gone ?
I would chip away some of the cement, clean and dry the affected area and epoxy it.

? can you not see the crack in the pic ?

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

I would still clean and epoxy it. what does he have to lose?

time and effort to no avail

however

a 'patch' may hold for ?????

good luck



==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

JB Weld would hold for quite a while.
[www.jbweld.com]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I've got a couple different folks coming to take a look this evening and will make a decision after that. In the meantime, I stuffed a rag in there to slow down the outflow and we're just using as little water as we can until it's fixed.



Edited 1 times.

Get a wire wheel brush for your drill and clean it down to bare metal and epoxy the hole. It won't take long and will buy you time with a semi-permanent fix.

You can't even get to all the pipe around the hole without chipping away some concrete. His rag in the hole is the best time v. effort patch. chipping the concrete may cause more of the hole to open on down the bend.

I wouldn't want a sewage soaked rag sticking out of my sewer main. Cleaning and epoxying might take 15 minutes, a much better temporary repair in my opinion.