Huh. IANAP. Our garage and basement floor drains are part of the waste lines going to septic tank. I guess if your basement is lower than the septic, (ours is not) you would need to actively pump from there, hence no floor drains.
If you wanted a toilet in your basement, you’d have to pump waste up, right?
That is correct.
That wouldn’t have worked in this situation. Those are designed to keep sewage from pushing back into the house, which wasn’t Kayaker’s case. In his case, there was a blockage and he was dumping more sewage into the drain, which was simply stacking up behind it.
OK, my home (including basement and garage) is higher than the septic system. Everything flows downhill.
Thank you.
So, obviously the floor drains never got reconnected, or that (and only that) connection has failed.
Gotcha. My bad.
Well, the floor drains are a part of the entire waste system. A system that eventually goes to the septic tank. It is presumed that the failure is the collar that connects the house to the septic tank.
ah.
For what it’s worth, it is considered good practice to utilize an oil/water separator for any garage floor drains that connect to public sewers or septic systems. Some areas mandate this. Otherwise you can end up with oil being hosed off the garage floor and going into the environment.
:eek:
Note to self: never use the bathroom at kayaker’s house. In fact, probably best to not go anywhere near the property at all.
My waste line clogs with tree roots. It starts to backup into the tub. I call a contractor with a roto rooter machine and problem solved. Until it does it again two or three years later.
I know a new line is in my future. It won’t be easy. My deck is over part of it.
So far the accumulated fees are still much cheaper than replacing the line.
Ideally a sewer line should set on a bed of crushed stone. Then a layer of stone on top. Then backfill with the dirt. The stone keeps the line from getting crushed by the dirt as it compacts. Some contractors just backfill with dirt and call it a day.
I’d go along these lines. You might give the original contractor another chance to make things right, but he’s likely to put the least possible effort into getting you off his back instead of fixing things. Good luck, hope it works out, been through too many septic problems myself, I’m incredibly happy and feel incredibly lucky that I’m connected to the sewer now.
Lucky bastard!!
Will never happen here. We are on a private lane that branches off from a side road, and that road doesn’t have sewage.
You practically did their job for them then. As long as they got paid on friday, how much easier could the job have been. 
I can relate to the OP’s frustration. This isn’t highly skilled work. Breaking a connection and burying it is just careless.
They had one job! And they bungled it.
I’d hold both contractors responsible.
So, this has been a real pain in the ass. I called a bunch of excavators, but this is a small, messy job and nobody wants it. Put in a new septic tank? Sure. Foundation for a house? Sure. My problem? No thanks. I actually looked into renting a little backhoe for a day, but my gf nixed the idea (and I’m sure the learning curve is steep).
Then yesterday my neighbors had a guy come to do a bunch of small excavation jobs in their yard (enlarge a French drain, alter a creek bed). I told the guy what was happening and it’s exactly the type of job he likes!
I also have a videographer lined up to document the job and if the original excavator is shown to be at fault, I will file a civil suit. I found the videographer through my attorney. They are friends. If the excavation shows that the previous guy is blame free, I pay a pittance to the videographer. If the video supports a lawsuit, I’ll pay more and the videographer will get things notarized and testify if needed. If I win the lawsuit I pay the videographer a bonus.
Just wanted to comment that your girlfriend is a goddamn genius.
Is it THAT far to dig by hand?
Mine is like two feet maybe?
I’ve thought about this and asked people about the idea. I’ve been told that it’s too big a job for a shovel and too small a job for a backhoe. After the first foot there will be muck/shit to deal with. One plumber told me I could wear fishing waders and use a shovel, just hope your back doesn’t give out. The area dug out will have to be deeper than the inlet and wide enough to climb down in and work.
OK. Please let us know how this all works out!
Maybe. The shovel/backhoe bit is pretty accurate. (Rent one, do it! do it! :D) I dug my trench from the house to the tank by hand. I may have missed it but, are you sure there is waste at that spot? You can always stop. It shouldn’t have anything to do with your legal issue, you have to find out what is wrong one way or the other, right?
Unless your pipe is really deep (3 feet?) all the work will be done from the surface, the hole doesn’t have to be deep enough for someone to stand in.
All the above is based on my experience of putting in exactly two septic systems. So FWIW and all.
We should have made the Barn House forum the Septic System forum.