I have a 100 plus year old house with my plumbing running through a sort of "root cellar" with a dirt floor. The main sewer pipe is leaking/broken. The pipe comes down from the living area and is buried under the dirt floor about 15 feet before it leaves the house.

What kind of plumbing business do I need? Do I look for a special type of contractor?

I am just starting to search for someone to fix it. I'd like to know what I need to look for.

I'd start by asking neighbors and friends in the area about trusted plumbers they know that have been in business for several years. You want someone experienced. Is the leak in the vertical part of the pipe or in the horizontal buried pipe? They might be able to wrap a rubber patch with stainless bands on it until it can get repaired properly. That way you can still use your plumbing without causing more leakage. If the leak is in the vertical part then that can be repaired much easier.

Are you sure about the 15 foot buried line depth? That would make it about 20 feet below grade, that seems very deep but I'm not familiar with your area.

If the leak is in the buried part 15 feet underground a basement floor that is a big job to dig up, you may want to consider abandoning the old damaged line and installing a new drain pipe that goes from under the main floor over to the foundation, then drops down to proper level as it goes outside into the yard. That way most of the digging can be outside the home. That's just an idea, the contractor on-site will hopefully know the best way to deal with it. Good Luck!



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He means it goes underground, (probably a foot or so down), and then runs 15 feet underground to the building's wall before it leaves the building.

thanks hj, now I understand and it makes a lot more sense.



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well, you just don't know until you dig and expose the whole length.
but, being in MN, the ground is likely frozen so any outside work will have to wait.
one thing for sure.. you are just removing fill so you will not run into hunks of granite as big as an F450..

You should definitely replace the 100 year old pipe with ABS or PVC. You may have to insulate it if conditions are freezing at times.

Hunk of granite that big? Don't they mine this stuff?

Most of our soil down here is sand so we are lucky. One time putting up a fence the contractor digging post holes ran into coral rocks, big ones so he moved over two feet to avoid having to break up the rock and the inspector failed it.