Sewer Lateral excavation
Our first major project for the house in Alameda is to replace the sewer lateral. It is a city requirement that when title is transferred on an old house the sewer lateral needs to be tested and replaced if necessary.
When we purchased the house we were given an estimate of $5000.00 to replace the lateral. We plan to complete it ourselves and save a few thousand bucks.
We have started with the first step in replacing the sewer lateral from where it exits the house to the connection at the street. The pipe consists of 100 year old terracotta clay sections buried up to 4 feet deep. You can see it is above my waist in the photo and I am 6'3" tall. We had to remove 40 feet of concrete sidewalk and dig a trench about 55 feet long. There are a number of joints that have been infiltrated by tree roots causing clogs and sewer to leach out into the ground.
You can see more photos here.
Our next step is to remove the old pipe and install 4" black ABS plastic pipe in place of the old clay pipe. we will get to that in the next couple of days.
Cost so far:
City Permit = $129.30
Concrete cutting and removal = $475.00
Hired labor for digging the trench down to the pipe = $400.00
Watching raw sewer leaking into the trench = priceless
When we purchased the house we were given an estimate of $5000.00 to replace the lateral. We plan to complete it ourselves and save a few thousand bucks.
We have started with the first step in replacing the sewer lateral from where it exits the house to the connection at the street. The pipe consists of 100 year old terracotta clay sections buried up to 4 feet deep. You can see it is above my waist in the photo and I am 6'3" tall. We had to remove 40 feet of concrete sidewalk and dig a trench about 55 feet long. There are a number of joints that have been infiltrated by tree roots causing clogs and sewer to leach out into the ground.
You can see more photos here.
Our next step is to remove the old pipe and install 4" black ABS plastic pipe in place of the old clay pipe. we will get to that in the next couple of days.
Cost so far:
City Permit = $129.30
Concrete cutting and removal = $475.00
Hired labor for digging the trench down to the pipe = $400.00
Watching raw sewer leaking into the trench = priceless
Labels: DIY, sewer lateral
posted by Trevor at 4:52 PM
4 Comments:
Trevor, thanks for the great series of pictures of your DIY sewer lateral replacement. I have one question for you - for the connection with the main sewer line in the street, did you need to hire a licensed contractor to do make the connection? Also, do you have any pictures of that part? Was the connection under the asphalt of the street?
Thanks, Mari
I didn't have to hire a licensed contractor as long as it was done correctly. I do have a friend who is a licensed plumber who gave me advice and looked at my work to make sure I was doing it correctly. I was looking at my photos and didn't take any of the connection. It consisted of a no-hub from the cityside clay pipe to my 4" ABS. We connected just before the line went under the sidewalk where the city responsibility starts. At that junction we had to install a 2-way cleanout as well.
Thanks for the info Trevor, I am preparing to start a similar sewer lateral replacement project this weekend, so finding your blog was a big help. Thanks for sharing your photos and experience!
I am looking at doing the same project on my house and I bumped on your post…
Looking at your pics and considering my work, I would like to ask you a question.
I am a little surprised that you were able to dig that 55ft trench for $400. How did you dig? Just Shovels?. A few years ago I put a simple cleanout in my front yard, I had to dig a simple 3’x2’x3’ hole, and it took me 3 days of digging, with a hammer and a big chisel for the last 1.5’.
BTW, my city seems to require that a licensed contractor to do work in what they call “their easement” which in my case is 10’ from the curb (that is about 5ft into my front yard from the end of the sidewalk). They are going to send an inspector to check the work anyway, so why can’t the inspector check it is done correctly. It’s just a sewer hookup, not rocket science. To add insult to injury, they require me to pay them an additional $200 (in addition to the regular plumbing permit) to get what they call an “encroachment permit” to work in these last 5 feet next to the sidewalk.
When will there be a DIY revolution against fee happy bureaucrats?
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