Sewer Lateral - Commited

Today I planned to undertake the removal of the old clay pipes and replace them with the new ABS. Before we were committed I wanted to make sure I had all the right parts. This morning I didn't have a choice, part of the clay pipe collapsed and opened up. I came out to look at my ditch only to find everything we flushed down in the past day floating in it's whole form. I was now committed.

My friend Dave came by to drop off supplies he picked up at the local plumbing supply shop. (It is good to have a plumber friend)We were planning on doing the replacement together but he had to run. The other problem we ran into is that there were a couple of parts and tools missing. I was on my own to get the sewer hooked up enough to be able to flush the toilet and not have it end up in the ditch.

I proceeded to remove sections of the clay pipe hoping at some point to make a clean break that I could attache to the ABS. I was missing a chain cutter so I was trying to make a clean break with a cold chisel, I was not having very good luck. Eventually I came to a point where I could slip on a no-hub connector.

It was amazing how full of roots the pipes were. I'm surprised anything drained, solids collected in the mesh of roots and the liquids slowly leached through.

Mary came home early and helped me fit the new sections of ABS together so we could get hooked up again. We finally got everything hooked up by 6:00 this evening.

The final sections and clean-outs will get attached tomorrow hopefully (pending my friend with the chain cutter schedule) There is a good chance we may have to finish this weekend.

All the photos can be seen here.

So far the cost of the project:

City Permit = $129.30
Concrete cutting and removal = $475.00
Hired labor for digging the trench down to the pipe = $400.00
Materials = $450.00
Scooping up everything you flushed the night before = priceless