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Updated over 6 years ago on . Most recent reply

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Christina Tkacs
  • New to Real Estate
  • Tacoma, WA
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Continuous clog in the sewage line - whose fault?

Christina Tkacs
  • New to Real Estate
  • Tacoma, WA
Posted

Long story short... our tenant has been in his unit for approximately four months and has reported a greywater backup every month in the septic system (while running laundry, backup occurs in bathtub).

We've spent over $6,000 for the sewage company to bring cameras out (4x) and clear clogs.  The only thing they can find is a piece of rebar through the line, underneath the foundation.  This unit has been in existence since 1974 and the previous tenants (~15 years in the unit) had no problems.

I don't know what to do.  The sewage company suggests ripping up the foundation between the units and taking out the rebar, but they're not positive the problem will be fixed ($10,000 repair).  We also can't tell the tenant to deal with the graywater backup.  We also can't have the sewage company come out and keep unclogging it.

I don't know what to do.  HELP, please!  We're at an impasse right now.

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Matthew Paul#2 Contractors Contributor
  • Severna Park, MD
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Matthew Paul#2 Contractors Contributor
  • Severna Park, MD
Replied

@Christina Tkacs You say " its just grey water"   well I hate to berak it to you it all mixes together . So its Black water , you dont have different pipes for grey and black , they all go to the septic tank . 

 get them to change toilet paper to Scotts 1001 sheets , it breaks down real fast .  The easiest way to check the flow is to dye some toilet paper blue . then take the top odd the septic tank and flush the blue toilet paper . Shine a flash light and wait for it to drop in the tank . 

What you could have is a mainline that is flat or trapped , and the paper is not flowing to the tank creating the back up 

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