Sewer Hookup and Backhoe

[RoyJackson]

Whoa... never had to get into a contorted spot where I couldn't get away from the joint when pouring!

I was pretty good at snapping the pipe to length. Hardly ever a re-do; so, the journeymen would bring me their cuts.

AKfish

On winter mornings, in the trench...pouring the lead...yeah, easy to get splattered.

I did pretty good chisel cutting cast iron...I'd break one now and then though.

 

[Rustyiron]

When this used to be America, land of the free, they couldn't make you have to spend this money in the first place! You stated that all of the private systems of yours are working fine, right? I'm no groundwater or septic "specialist", but I would bet the bank that your (private) septic sys. has 10x LESS effect on the bay as what is being released by the sewer treatment plant!
I'm sure that you have checked it out but I'd rather spend a few bucks on a short note from an attorney, there must be some sort of "grandfather" rule. At one point in time your existing SS was aproved and inspected by the county, and to just decide that they would rather see your chit go to their plant, that you paid for and will be billed for using........ BS! What's to say that in a few years they decide that they want you to only flush on every other day? What is happening to our property rights? Oh that's right you have O'Malley! (I think that they are prepping him for a presisdntial run after obummer is out) Good luck and rent an excavator if you do it.

 

[tlbuser]

When this used to be America, land of the free, they couldn't make you have to spend this money in the first place! You stated that all of the private systems of yours are working fine, right? I'm no groundwater or septic "specialist", but I would bet the bank that your (private) septic sys. has 10x LESS effect on the bay as what is being released by the sewer treatment plant!
I'm sure that you have checked it out but I'd rather spend a few bucks on a short note from an attorney, there must be some sort of "grandfather" rule. At one point in time your existing SS was aproved and inspected by the county, and to just decide that they would rather see your chit go to their plant, that you paid for and will be billed for using........ BS! What's to say that in a few years they decide that they want you to only flush on every other day? What is happening to our property rights? Oh that's right you have O'Malley! (I think that they are prepping him for a presisdntial run after obummer is out) Good luck and rent an excavator if you do it.

OMalley is one state over, Md. Va. is McDonnell....politicians and the wannabe policitally correct folk.......we can't go there, can we?

 

[RaydaKub]

When this used to be America, land of the free, they couldn't make you have to spend this money in the first place! You stated that all of the private systems of yours are working fine, right? I'm no groundwater or septic "specialist", but I would bet the bank that your (private) septic sys. has 10x LESS effect on the bay as what is being released by the sewer treatment plant!
I

I got a friend who bought a house outside of city limits with a well and septic. The city annexed his lot and then came around with a deal he just couldn't refuse. For $12g's they would hook him up to city sewer and water and plug his well and septic. Either you hook up now or it would be more like $25g's to hook up later on. And by the way, you can't sell this house w/o it being hooked to city utilities later on. Your choice though! You don't HAVE to do it...

 

[EddieWalker]

When this used to be America, land of the free, they couldn't make you have to spend this money in the first place! You stated that all of the private systems of yours are working fine, right? I'm no groundwater or septic "specialist", but I would bet the bank that your (private) septic sys. has 10x LESS effect on the bay as what is being released by the sewer treatment plant!
I'm sure that you have checked it out but I'd rather spend a few bucks on a short note from an attorney, there must be some sort of "grandfather" rule. At one point in time your existing SS was aproved and inspected by the county, and to just decide that they would rather see your chit go to their plant, that you paid for and will be billed for using........ BS! What's to say that in a few years they decide that they want you to only flush on every other day? What is happening to our property rights? Oh that's right you have O'Malley! (I think that they are prepping him for a presisdntial run after obummer is out) Good luck and rent an excavator if you do it.

The Federal Government has gotten into the sewage industry and has created a bunch of laws that have really complicated things. The local treatment plants have had to comply with the Federal regs, and have their hands tied on what they can and cannot do. Even Homeland Security has gotten involved because of the possible threat to drinking water!!!

Hiring a lawyer to fight the rules might work, but odds are that you might be wasting a lot of money fighting something that you don't have a chance in winning, and spending more money in the fight then it would cost to do what you will end up doing anyway.

Eddie

 

[ultrarunner]

A lot of Development is controlled depending on public sewer access.

The zoning might be one home per 10 acres on septic and that will change to 1 home per 5,000 square feet if public sewer become available.

 

[ametcalf]

When this used to be America, land of the free, they couldn't make you have to spend this money in the first place! You stated that all of the private systems of yours are working fine, right? I'm no groundwater or septic "specialist", but I would bet the bank that your (private) septic sys. has 10x LESS effect on the bay as what is being released by the sewer treatment plant!
I'm sure that you have checked it out but I'd rather spend a few bucks on a short note from an attorney, there must be some sort of "grandfather" rule. At one point in time your existing SS was aproved and inspected by the county, and to just decide that they would rather see your chit go to their plant, that you paid for and will be billed for using........ BS! What's to say that in a few years they decide that they want you to only flush on every other day? What is happening to our property rights? Oh that's right you have O'Malley! (I think that they are prepping him for a presisdntial run after obummer is out) Good luck and rent an excavator if you do it.

It sure looks like regulations have gotten out of hand in a lot of places but there certainly has to be some regulation. Our small town in central KY went from septic tanks to city sewer in the mid 70s. Before that you could always smell the poorly performing septic systems when you drove into town on a warm summer evening with your windows down. The wonderful, dedicated doctor in our town estimated that half the children she was seeing were the result of their playing in raw sewage. In order to hook up one of the town's restaurants we had to pump the existing septic tank, take the top off, fill it with crushed stone and run the cast iron pipe to the tap from the city. When we lifted the top off the septic tank we found the 3/4" galvanized water line feeding the restaurant was run through the tank and was leaking. As long as there was good city water pressure it probably wasn't too bad but when ever the city lost water pressure the septic water was sucked into the cities water system. I don't care for regulations especially when they go overboard but it sure would have been nice if a plumbing inspector had looked at that mess before it got covered up. You haven't really experienced the life of a plumber until you have been working in a deep manhole and have someone with diarrhea flush a toilet and dump it all on your head because some plumber or home owner thumbed their nose at the regulations and stuck the pipe from the house straight into the manhole instead of tapping the sewer main as the code called for. That wasn't one of my better days in the business.

 

[JB4310]

You haven't really experienced the life of a plumber until you have been working in a deep manhole and have someone with diarrhea flush a toilet and dump it all on your head because some plumber or home owner thumbed their nose at the regulations and stuck the pipe from the house straight into the manhole instead of tapping the sewer main as the code called for. That wasn't one of my better days in the business.

Around here that is ok to do, in fact I saved a guy over 10 grand by telling him he could do that. He had a corner lot and everyone that estimated his sewer connection job wanted to go into the street 18 feet down. I found out he had a man hole right on his yard in the right of way, on the other street side. Was a piece of cake job for the guy that ended up doing it.

Called an inside drop, generic pictures of.

It does remind me of a storey my buddy told me, they were replacing a house sewer, and told every one in the house not to use the plumbing. Well a kid came home from school and flushed the toilet, my buddy said he ended up with a turd in his rubber boot, as he was standing next to the cut pipe :laughing:

JB

 

[RoyJackson]

It does remind me of a storey my buddy told me, they were replacing a house sewer, and told every one in the house not to use the plumbing. Well a kid came home from school and flushed the toilet, my buddy said he ended up with a turd in his rubber boot, as he was standing next to the cut pipe :laughing:

JB

As you know, I was a plumber's apprentice/helper in the late 1960's.
One of the choice jobs (as a helper) was going to a home who called in a stopped up commode.
What they didn't tell us was it stopped up 3 weeks ago, and they never stopped using it.

Of course, it was the helper's job to get it ready for the journeyman plumber to fix it...

 

[ametcalf]

Around here that is ok to do, in fact I saved a guy over 10 grand by telling him he could do that. He had a corner lot and everyone that estimated his sewer connection job wanted to go into the street 18 feet down. I found out he had a man hole right on his yard in the right of way, on the other street side. Was a piece of cake job for the guy that ended up doing it.

Called an inside drop, generic pictures of.

JB

It looks like a good solution to the problem. The pipe that dumped on me was just stuck through the side with no inside drop. We did outside drops when the level of a sewer line changed at the manhole but I have never seen an inside drop. I got out of the business over 30 years ago and I am sure a lot of things have changed around here. You attached some really good pictures.
A. Metcalf

 

[ametcalf]

As you know, I was a plumber's apprentice/helper in the late 1960's.
One of the choice jobs (as a helper) was going to a home who called in a stopped up commode.
What they didn't tell us was it stopped up 3 weeks ago, and they never stopped using it.

Of course, it was the helper's job to get it ready for the journeyman plumber to fix it...

When we were hooking up houses to the new city sewer system we got a call from some people to give them a price for hooking up their house. At some previous time their septic system had failed so they were just letting the toilet flush into the crawl space and used the crawl space for a septic tank. I gave them a price but they didn't accept it. It didn't bother me because that was one job I was glad to do without. They did a lot of griping about the government infringing on their rights and requiring them to do things they didn't want to do. I didn't get the impression that the neighbors agreed with their views.
A. Metcalf

 

[Coyote machine]

Having read this I can't understand why you own a car, much less a tractor. You can save yourself a lot of aggravation by hiring out a car and driver. And as far as tractor work goes you should definitely hire that out too. Think of all the things that can go wrong mowing your yard and plowing your garden. You shouldn't take that risk, but find someone bonded and insured to do it for you.

This is GRAVITY pipe, not pressure. As long as every fitting is properly glued, or gasket set, no worries on leaks. Besides, that is what testing is for. With a grade laser it is very easy to maintain grade, and 200' is not long. For a 4" service, which is what this would be, 1% is the standard here and less is not desirable and I have never run across a max for 4". The larger the diameter of the pipe the lower the minimum percent goes. It would be good to bed the pipe on sand or pea gravel which makes it very easy to fine grade. 200' at 1% is 2' of fall.

What is a reverse grade run? Would that mean you ran the laser the wrong way and sloped the pipe in the wrong direction? If so, that will be found when tested at the latest.

Ever heard of devil's advocate?
Reverse grade run- pitch is toward the house- not the street; you know where the sewer line empties into the city sewer?!:confused2::thumbsup:
Oh, and thanks for the idea to hire out a car- think I might just do it!:laughing:

 

[JB4310]

As you know, I was a plumber's apprentice/helper in the late 1960's.
One of the choice jobs (as a helper) was going to a home who called in a stopped up commode.
What they didn't tell us was it stopped up 3 weeks ago, and they never stopped using it.

Of course, it was the helper's job to get it ready for the journeyman plumber to fix it...

I'm not a plumber, but maybe I should of been I do storm drainage work so since some of our storm water is handled by the sanitary sewer system I understand what's going on there. Plus I've always been fascinated with those systems, as a kid we would go out and find remote manholes and open them up and go down there to play. Sometimes 3 of us 10-12 year olds hanging around in a sewer, probably not the safest thing for kids to be doing.

I've got all kinds of funny stories, but one was when me and my brother would flush all kinds of house hold stuff down the toilet til it would back up. Mother called our neighbor Frank to come and un block it, he opened a clean out in the basement, not realizing the stack pipe was filled to the second floor, I will never forget that fountain he was standing in as the pressure released all over him :laughing:

It looks like a good solution to the problem. The pipe that dumped on me was just stuck through the side with no inside drop. We did outside drops when the level of a sewer line changed at the manhole but I have never seen an inside drop. I got out of the business over 30 years ago and I am sure a lot of things have changed around here. You attached some really good pictures.
A. Metcalf

Those were pics I found on the net, but you can see how much work that way can save, not having to go down to the main. They do require you to core drill the hole so that adds a little to the job.

JB

 

[ultrarunner]

I've seen one in a "Lamp Hole" about 20% the size of a standard man hole...

 

[shownuff]

in my town they have been billing you on your taxes for the last 5 years,now the system is up and running and they give you a 2 month leeway on hooking up after thst you hsve to pay a 300.00 application fee plus the hook up and of course the charge on the tax bill just went up so i figure being they are charging you anyway you might as well hook up and bite the bullett, as posted earlier if you want to sell you will have to hook it up to sell

 

[Artisan]

As you know, I was a plumber's apprentice/helper in the late 1960's.
One of the choice jobs (as a helper) was going to a home who called in a stopped up commode.
What they didn't tell us was it stopped up 3 weeks ago, and they never stopped using it.

Of course, it was the helper's job to get it ready for the journeyman plumber to fix it...

I'm 53 years old, in business since 1986, 38 years in the industry, 5.5 years apprecticeship traning, a Journeyman at 21 years old. I had thought I had seen it all, a few years ago I was called out to a home, 2 women in love, books piled floor to ceiling, horders they were/are.

The complaint was the toilet was not working. It was literally falling thru the floor, on maybe a 20 degree tilt. It has not been used in years...it was a one bath home..............think about it.

I didn't want the job, I quoted it at $2500.00 for a new toilet and floor fix. THEY SAID OK. I had put enough money in it smash open the window, I walked up to the window, double hung, slammed the frame w/ my palms and it OPENED. I had looked outside and the crawl hole was right under the bathroom window. Pulled junk toilet, cut back floor to good, installed 2x6 head-outs and joist, sheeted to square to the world, threw down a competitive toilet and seat w/ new angle stop and I was done in 5 hours. KaCHING!

I told them to call a linoleum floor contractor, I nerver heard back, I bet it is getting ready to fall thru again!

Another home I SWEAR the people used the couch for a toilet, DISGUSING it was. NO AMOUNT of money would have kept me there w/o a clean up first, JUST IN THE LIVING ROOM! I never ventured into the bathroom! I had not even see the problem nor did I know what it was, as soon as I walked in I said " I am sorry, we do not do these kinds of jobs" and I walked out. My nose smelt of there vial way of life for hours. Repulsive does not do it justice.

 

[jenkinsph]

I don't do disgusting jobs either, they don't pay as well as the good jobs and most people who are living this way don't have the where with all to pay the bill.

I was called out one day with a sewer line stoppage and found the septic tank with a piece of rotted 1/2" wafer board covering the hole. You could see through a large hole in the rotted plywood into the overfilled tank. They had two small children playing in the backyard unattended. One was about 2yrs and the other maybe 4? These little kids were playing within 3 ft of the hole. I called the police captain who is a friend of mine to deal with this.

Can you imagine the liability I would have with that type of job?

 

[JB4310]

I don't do disgusting jobs either, they don't pay as well as the good jobs and most people who are living this way don't have the where with all to pay the bill.

I was called out one day with a sewer line stoppage and found the septic tank with a piece of rotted 1/2" wafer board covering the hole. You could see through a large hole in the rotted plywood into the overfilled tank. They had two small children playing in the backyard unattended. One was about 2yrs and the other maybe 4? These little kids were playing within 3 ft of the hole. I called the police captain who is a friend of mine to deal with this.

Can you imagine the liability I would have with that type of job?

You did the right thing in getting the authorities to intervene, but I would of taken it a step further, since there was an imminent threat to those kids safety, I would of found something to put over the hole temporarily and instructed kids and care givers to stay away from it.

Most disgusting thing I've seen, a recluse living above a coffee shop with a toilet that was blocked and overflowing, Not overflowing water!

When I saw the people down below sitting there eating, I just thought to myself, man if they only knew what was just above their heads, they would of lost their appetite like me.

JB

 

[EddieWalker]

Speaking of disgusting stuff....

My Sister in Law had an older house in the middle of Sacramento CA. After a series of storms that created more run off then normal, her and all her neighbors had the sewage back up from the street and into their homes. "Stuff" was coming back up the toilet, filling up the bathtubs and overflowing from the shower pans.

Personally, the worse I've seen is from hair build up. Sometimes it's no big deal, but other times it can just be so nasty that I want to empty my stomach and tape up my nose!!!!

Eddie

 

[ultrarunner]

The city owns the sewers here and has had more than a few lawsuits over homes over run with sewage from main line blockages...

I believe one home where the owners were away on vacation had to be condemned... it was literally a swamp waste deep...

The topography made it the low point for about 75 homes once the main line stopped flowing...