The decision to start over in the basement with a new floor presents a once in a lifetime opportunity to check on the sewer lines under the building.
To find and trace the existing sewers, I started excavating at the vertical stacks and followed the piping from there.
What a discovery process! I found sewer branches I did not expect. I stumbled on old abandoned drains that were still connected to the system. And I never could be too sure which direction the pipe would snake next.
With the sewers exposed we can determine what problems need fixing. And problems there are! All the underground sewer pipes are old clay tile with mortar joints at the gaskets. That mortar has a reputation to crack and erode, and my sewers were no exception. As if that is not bad enough, a number of pipes had cracked or broken gaskets.
Some of the sewer tiles even had holes that were patched half-heartedly. There is no repairing here! We are better of replacing all the lines with new ones. This way we hopefully never have to touch the underground sewers again.
Yikes! And what does the pink paint mean?
Well, I decided that if I can clean up behind my dog, I can handle the sewers too
The pink paint is the layout for the new sewer lines. I will write more about that soon.