My wife and I are like most homeowners. We don’t spend much time worrying about sewer lines. But when a morning shower left Sonia standing in three inches of water, she started to think about it. And, when she saw the toilet overflowing in one bathroom and go over the top in the other, she knew it was time to call one of those "rooter" companies. Our sewer saga had begun.

Rule number one: even though you might feel panicky, call more than one plumbing/sewer line company for first-visit prices. We didn’t do that, although Sonia did ask their price for coming out before she agreed to use the company. The representative was evasive, but Sonia pinned her down to a flat cost of "$69." 

Later, when presented with the work order to sign, there in black and white was a charge of $89 an hour. A call back to the company representative clarified that this was their customary charge, but they would do us the favor of billing us at only $69 an hour. Not wanting to slow down the process, we reluctantly agreed as we set our stopwatches.

Forty-five minutes later came the next piece of bad news: roots. "Fred", the rooter specialist,  proclaimed that all work must halt while he paged his supervisor. After much probing, I learned that he had been a sewer technician for only six months and didn’t know what steps to take when encountering roots. Fred chirpily announced that the clock stopped while we waited for Fred’s boss. What luck!

Three hours later, Fred’s supervisor appeared. He checked the blade on the end of the cable and declared, "You have a big problem; it’s a broken sewer line." To assess the extent of the damage, we would have to pay another $250 for them to insert a cable with a video camera. This, we were assured, was their "commercial" rate, a substantial discount from the "regular" charge.

We now had to make a fast, uninformed decision. Should we send the men away and shop the rate by calling other companies? This, of course, would delay repairs. At that point, we were not even sure if we could use our bathrooms—we weren’t thinking kitchen, yet. Dubiously, we acquiesced. It wasn’t until much later that I found another company’s regular rate to be $175 for the same procedure.

We watched the video monitor as the camera snaked down the sewer line a few feet at a time. Everything looked fine until we reached about 70 feet. To no one’s surprise, there it was: a broken line and a mass of thick tree roots. 

The bad news had been confirmed. We definitely needed a new sewer line. Now came the good news. They would go back in with the snake, at no additional charge, and attempt to drill a temporary opening through the roots. Two hours later, they told us they had created a small opening, but it probably would not remain so for very long.

We were then given the second bit of good news—our insurance company would probably take care of the work. Even if we were covered, however, there was still the $1000 deductible. The supervisor suggested we call our insurer and have them authorize the next step, a "line location" test to determine exactly where they would have to start digging.

Fortunately, our homeowner’s policy did include coverage for "roots" in the sewer line. If it had been a collapse because of age, we would not have been covered. The adjuster requested us to get two bids and we set up an appointment for him to come and view our exciting sewer line video.

The adjuster’s visit went smoothly. He authorized the line location test and confirmed our coverage minus the deductible. The test showed the break to be directly under our driveway. Although more accessible than if it had been under the house, it meant we would have no direct way in or out of the house while the work was in process.

Initially, we received three bids, ranging from $11,900 to more than $15,000. The lowest bid had a caveat that there would be additional charges if the front steps had to be torn out. This turned out to be the case.

Luckily, our insurance covered that as well. The job was now up to $14,850. The supervisor reassured us, however, that he was concurrently working on a $23,000 situation in Piedmont. This made us feel so much better. We were told the work would take no more than seven days. 

One morning, a few days later, we awoke to the sounds of our driveway being broken up with a backhoe. This proceeded well until the rains came — some of the heaviest of this century. In between rainstorms, the now defunct vitrified clay pipe (a material similar to your flower pots) was replaced with cast iron pipe.

One month later (so much for the "seven days"), the front of our house was still a virtual bog. We were expecting migrating marsh birds to winter there, but they just left their droppings and flew on. Eventually, after several weeks of dry weather, the experts decided to pour concrete. One small problem: sections of the driveway were still mushy masses of goo. 

Undeterred, and anxious to complete the operation and get their checks, they determined that a french drain in the middle of the driveway would divert the water. Trouble was it did not handle the water accumulated at the base of the steps. Naturally, we didn’t find this out until after the concrete was poured.

Apparently, the abnormally heavy rains had raised the ground water table to historic heights. During the next month of mainly dry weather, copious amounts of water continually oozed from between the front steps and the newly poured concrete. Because of this, the concrete in that area never cured correctly.

After many consultations with the drainage company, we were comfortable that they had done the best they could and have warrantied their work. As a result of this ordeal, I am able to offer a mini sewer line seminar: