This is my first post!

I am a new home owner in florida. I bought my house a few years ago. One of its main selling features was its beautifully restored Terrazzo flooring. You just cant get any better than this stuff! Anyhoo, I had some issues with water backing up in the wash room and kitchen/dishwasher. I have had to have the line snaked 3 times. Finally a new plumber decided to do a video to see what the issue was because he said its unusual to have so many issues within 1-2 years.

Low and behold, he found a full break in the water main leaving the house just under the front slab that had sunken in. He told me it might be part of a larger problem and did a full inspection. Long story short, my cast iron plumbing in my 1970's house is totally shot. It has issues the whole way through.

He gave me an estimate for "breaking apart" the floor and fixing the pipes from the inside, approx 28k for just breaking the floor and replacing the pipes.

His second option, which he didnt give me an estimate for was to tunnel under the house to repair and replace all the pipes. This sounds incredibly scary as its messing with my foundation itself.

I absolutely LOVE my terrazzo and its breaking my heart to even think of having to break it apart and cover it with tile but on the same token, tunneling and putting my foundation at risk is equally scary. Any advice would be greatly welcomed!!!

Thank you!

Have you considered getting a second opinion? That sounds like a lot of deterioration for a cast iron system.

Is it remotely possible that a restored terrazzo floor was meant to hide more serious issues. I too hope you obtain a second opinion and let us all know.

Best Wishes

Sum, a frequent poster here, has some good information and pictures of a tunneling job he had done. He can provide more info if you need to go that route.

Is this a cast iron waste line that needs repair, the OP said "WATER MAIN" but also said "SNAKED"...is it the supply pipe or the waste pipe?

I think ultimately the decision would have to be based on whether your pipe break is only at one pin point location, or whether it is in bad shape along the entire run. I would also get more estimates from other plumbers that allows you to compare notes, prices and educate yourself along the process. As far as tunneling if you are worried about compromising the foundation...is your house on a monolithic slab? It is the footers that could post a problem. Don't mess with the footers.

Bear in mind I am not a plumber that does tunneling but this was a job I hired someone to do some time ago.

I have documented the entire process here, as well as the issues I ran into along the way in two separate threads.

[www.plbg.com]

[www.plbg.com]

I also went through video inspection, contemplating cutting a big hole in the slab, trenchless technology, tunneling and have gotten bids on all those, I end up deciding on the tunneling.

It was an expensive repair. I think $18000 plus permits.

Feel free to read the threads I linked above and ask questions.

Three things to be mindful of.

First, not sure where you are in FL, but where I am, the city of Hollywood, and they may have changed, but back when I did this, has a certain way they want you to do the tunnel. You cannot just locate the trouble spot with video, then tunnel from the nearest exterior point. They won't allow that. You need to tunnel from the outside cleanout ALL THE WAY IN. In other words, let's say the trouble spot is in the rear of the house 4' from a side wall, but 25' from the cleanout up front, you will need to tunnel from the cleanout in. They will not permit any other way...the explanation I got was they had cases where they tunnel from the side in, and the pipe downstream has already developed a belly and there is no way to push the pipe back up...so, double check with the city on tunneling. You most likely will end up replacing, at a minimum, all the pipe from the trouble spot downstream to the cleanout. Do not let a contractor quote you on a sidewall excavation, then fail the inspection later.

Second, the city requires an soil engineers report. BEFORE the excavation, and AFTER the excavation to make sure the density is at least the same compaction level. Sounds good. It may take a week to do the soils report, and until then, the final inspection will not be signed off. So if the contractor told you the job will take 2 days, most likely 1-2 weeks as the soil reports takes time, and the AFTER soil sample can't be taken until the job is done, then they go and do the report, when report comes back they call final inspection. Don't worry if the AFTER soil sample is taken from a spot not near the excavation, it's what they do...

Third, you are paying big money for the job, make sure the contractor you hire is licensed insured and bonded. But more importantly, make them sign that they wouldn't sub out your job and ANYONE that shows up at the job site is covered by their insurance. There are many companies who does these jobs, but on the day of the job, they swing by nearest Home Depot and pick up two laborers, and pay them $8 an hour to dig the tunnel. Most times you can't even talk to these laborers as they don't speak English, so Jose and Raul, digging the tunnel, are not covered by the insurance, and if they get hurt, you are in trouble.

Good luck.

We have done several tunneling jobs in South Florida and every city has different requirements. Being a business owner of a Plumbing company I would definitely get 3 estimates/opinions. Most cities do not require it but, some do, the most important part to me when tunneling is making sure they pump a light concrete mixture under your home after it is back filled. When we back fill we leave a couple of feet and that is pumped with the concrete.
Also, check some cities require a special engineer/inspector to check the house and the amount of feet to tunnel before they will issue the permit. They also have to be on the job when back filling to make sure it is compacted properly.
Every plumber has different opinions on how to do a job get those opinions