Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

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Whiskerfish
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Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#1

Post by Whiskerfish »

Back over at the Lady's house that runs the Rescue I work with. She has been washing dishes in the bathroom for over a year because the kitchen sink drain is blocked. Heck I can snake a drain as good as anyone right tumb2 tumb2

The house is on a slab so it has cleanouts sticking out through the brick on the outside. The entire time the drain has been screwed up the plug on the cleanout has been removed and only grey water is used in the kitchen and it drains into the back yard. No biggie except everything has corroded. I chip away a bunch of brick to find a fernco buried in there then chisel and tug and finally get that off. Run a 15 ' snake through the drain and pull out gobs of dog hair etc. Put a new Fernco and plug on there and go in and turn on the faucet in the kitchen.

Water drains beautifully for about 7 or 8 minutes then slowly backs up into the sink. Hmmmm....

Go get a longer snake me thinks.

Standing there trying to think this thing through and realize there is a wet spot on the floor. Curious.. was that there a few minutes ago?? :dunno: :dunno:


The sink is still draining but very slowly at this point. I get down to take a closer at the wet spot and realize I can see the water coming up through a crack in the cement floor giveup giveup giveup giveup

Again she was at work so this time I drove over to give her the bad news :( :( :(

She has a home warranty and Home Owners Insurance so hopefully one of those will step up. If not it looks like I will be renting a jack hammer next week!!
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#2

Post by 5speed »

never understood building a house on a slab..
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#3

Post by salukispeed »

I had a friend that needed help with his 1930's slab home. His furnace had air return duct work thru the floor and when we tried to unclog a sink drain we discovered that the duct work had become the drain. The black pipe drain had corroded and was now open to the gravel and ductwork. the house was declared unfit for use due to the contaminated mess under the slab. the fix was to excavate the entire area under the slab and build a crawl and new footings. Bad deal for sure
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#4

Post by wingrider »

Dang! Now you are really making me think about slab on grade at our new place this coming summer!
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#5

Post by Whiskerfish »

Probably 50% of the houses in my area are Slab houses. I would NEVER own one. They built one across the street from me after they took out monster poplar tree. It has been about 7 years now and I would bet a years pay there is a huge void under that slab from the rootball rotting out. Sooner or later that is going to be a huge issue.
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#6

Post by 5speed »

you would need a slab at least 4 feet thick around here to prevent the frost from making your home a split level.
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#7

Post by desertrefugee »

5speed wrote:you would need a slab at least 4 feet thick around here to prevent the frost from making your home a split level.
LOL!

Around here, you could almost polish the dirt and build up around it. Exaggeration for sure, and there's a small amount of trouble with subsidance in the desert, but slabs are the norm around here - except away from the metro area and on some older homes >50 years.
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#8

Post by 5speed »

desertrefugee wrote:
5speed wrote:you would need a slab at least 4 feet thick around here to prevent the frost from making your home a split level.
LOL!

Around here, you could almost polish the dirt and build up around it. Exaggeration for sure, and there's a small amount of trouble with subsidance in the desert, but slabs are the norm around here - except away from the metro area and on some older homes >50 years.
I had a small piece built on the front of the house (split entry, moved the door out). It's sitting on a footing with a 4 foot frost wall and tied into the existing foundation with rebar..and the frost heaved it enough to crack the drywall.
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#9

Post by raiddrten »

If you look outside, on the roof of the house, you can locate the large vent stack of the drain-waste-vent system. The main stack is usually close to the toilet. You should also see smaller DWV stacks from the sink and laundry. If you think about the direction the main drain goes to the curb or the septic tank, then there is the flow direction.

If you are in a housing plat, there are sure to be others with similar problems. Just knowing what kind of drain pipe was used could be a big help. I sure hope that you are not dealing with galvanized drain pipe or ABS. If you could find out who the plumbers are who work on this builder's houses, that might be a plus.

We had a local builder who built hundreds of houses with nails too short and too sparse to hold the plastered ceilings that also contained electric heating cables. I figured out a way to fasten the sagging ceilings back on without tearing them off or losing the heating cable by hitting it with fasteners. The insurance company loved me. What I am saying is that if you plan it through and find out exactly where that drain pipe attaches to the main line--it can go a lot better. It is hard to imagine that the water would back up that much from just a sink drain. I wonder if the main drain is restricted and backing up to the sink?
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#10

Post by Whiskerfish »

Yea I can figure out roughly where the lines meet but it is below the slab in the dining room. The main line is fine, showers and toilets all work fine. It was a 71 build and the drain lines are Black iron pipe. And naturally I do not have the tool to work on it. The thing I have not figured out yet is if the pipes are actually in the slab or below it? The Master Bath toilet is only about 15 feet away along the same wall on the back side of the house. Wondering if I can not excavate under the slab and tie into the kitchen sink line and then trench it outside over and tie it into the master bath line. Just eliminating the use of the broken line?
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"Agreement is not a requirement for Respect" CDR Michael Smith USN (Ret) 2017
"The book is wrong, this whole Conclusion is Fallacious" River Tam
2008 GL1800 IIIA "TH3DOG"
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and a whole garage full of possibilities!!

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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#11

Post by Sagebrush »

I'm a pretty formidable do it yourself fixer upper on my own property but that is something, friend or no friend, that I would leave to the professionals. The project to fix the plugged drain has already escalated dramatically and it is liable to do so again. IMHO its time to call in the people that are equipped to repair something like that.
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Whiskerfish
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#12

Post by Whiskerfish »

Sagebrush wrote:I'm a pretty formidable do it yourself fixer upper on my own property but that is something, friend or no friend, that I would leave to the professionals. The project to fix the plugged drain has already escalated dramatically and it is liable to do so again. IMHO its time to call in the people that are equipped to repair something like that.
Yea I told her it was beyond my scope and to contact the ins folks. I ask her about it a couple days later and she tells me she can not afford it and will just live with it confused22 I am struggling with that

Between the Rescue and her Business and taking care of her Employees she gives everything and nobody takes care of her.

So I have not completely ruled out tackling it myself if I can figure a easier way. Even if I can't figure a easier way I suspect in the end I will end up fixing it.
"Agreement is not a requirement for Respect" CDR Michael Smith USN (Ret) 2017
"The book is wrong, this whole Conclusion is Fallacious" River Tam
2008 GL1800 IIIA "TH3DOG"
1975/6/7/8/9 Arthur Fulmer Dressed Road bike
1975 Naked Noisy and Nasty in town bike
and a whole garage full of possibilities!!

Psst. oh and by the way CHANGE YOUR BELTS!!!!
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#13

Post by dontwantapickle »

save yourself some work, time, and money.
send in a camera and find exactly where the problem is. otherwise you are just grasping at straws.
you can rent one:
https://www.homedepot.com/tool-truck-re ... index.html
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#14

Post by Whiskerfish »

dontwantapickle wrote:save yourself some work, time, and money.
send in a camera and find exactly where the problem is. otherwise you are just grasping at straws.
you can rent one:
https://www.homedepot.com/tool-truck-re ... index.html
Yea I have already accepted that will be the first step. I am just hoping it is only broke in one spot.
"Agreement is not a requirement for Respect" CDR Michael Smith USN (Ret) 2017
"The book is wrong, this whole Conclusion is Fallacious" River Tam
2008 GL1800 IIIA "TH3DOG"
1975/6/7/8/9 Arthur Fulmer Dressed Road bike
1975 Naked Noisy and Nasty in town bike
and a whole garage full of possibilities!!

Psst. oh and by the way CHANGE YOUR BELTS!!!!
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Re: Damn I Hate houses on Slabs!

#15

Post by Rat »

Hope this works out .... way beyond my supervising skills though ....

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