Clogged Main Sewer Line, Vacating Four Apartments. Insurance??

[William Coet]

Hello,

The sewer line is not accessible from a basement or crawl space.  Removal of floor in apartment is necessary and the project will take a week or so.  Will insurance cover the cost of replacement and the cost of relocating tenants to a hotel?

Insurance company will be contacted tomorrow, but trying to get an idea of what to expect.

Thank you

[Richard F.]

Aloha,

You should be able to run a 3/4" cable with a cutter blade by pulling a toilet closest to where the line heads to the street, or from a clean-out at a laundry standpipe (or other vertical main drain line), or if there is a floor drain on the lower level (often the floor drain will have a pipe plug under the grate, inside the rim), that is a clean out access too.
You don't say what the clog is or how you determined it...what makes you say the floor needs to be removed? Have you had a camera in the line?