Hello and thank you in advance for any help you may give me in diagnosing my problem.

Very recently I noticed water in connected puddles in the unfinished part of our basement. I thought it might be the washing machine, which is located on the first floor and connected to the kitchen sink drain stack which then connects to the main stack about 10 or more feet away.

I stood under the washing machine while it filled and drained and no water came down through the floor. Thus, I thought maybe it was simply a leak through our old bilco door after heavy rain, so I cleaned it up and it was fine and dry for a few day.

Today my kids were doing laundry and I happened to be in the finished part of the basement and went in to see what was up, and when the washer started draining I saw tiny bubbles coming up out of a hairline crack in the basement floor and also along the cove joint by the wall. The load was a small load and I would say less than a gallon of water came up.

Our washer has always had an issue of backing up into the kitchen sink when draining, the set up is probably wrong, but it is in the main floor wall. When using the kitchen sink, or the dishwasher, water does not come through the floor, even though they are all on the same waste stack.

I attached a link to a few photos, showing where the stack goes into the floor, the hairline crack in the floor where the water comes up and runs diagonally to the concrete wall where I also saw bubbles and water coming from the joint.

Any help you give me in diagnosing the problem would be greatly appreciated. I know I have to call a professional, but is there a specific type of plumber who would fix these kinds of things? I'd like to get it right the first time. I was also thinking this would be covered under insurance?

Thanks! Photo link below.

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looks like it time to get out the olde sledge hammer and bust up the floor to replace some (if not all) of that cast iron drain.

On gallon came through the floor but how much below the floor. Hope you don't have a toilet on that sewer line. Soil may need to be replaced or sewer flies.

No, we don't have a toilet on this line, its a side line from the main stack with only the kitchen sink, dishwasher and washing machine on the line. It connects into the main line about 10-15 feet away. Water does not leak through when using the sink or dishwasher at all, only JUST recently, like a week ago, with the laundry.

Thanks for the input guys. So do I call a regular plumber or is there a different kind of company that handles the big things like this. We are on septic here.

you call a licensed bonded insured plumber who should 'camera' the line - you proceed from there depending on the results


the key is BONDED


may not be the cheapest 'up front' but probably the cheapest 'down the road'

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

Thank you so much. That's why I am asking you professionals! I want this one and done if I can help it!

If the line is busted underground chances are the line is also clogged with some not so easily removed stuff, camera may not be able to see any broken or cracked lines

I’m with packy start removing the concrete floor and if reasonable… replace as much old cast iron as possible under the slab it will save you the headache later