Sewers

Does anyone know how much it would cost to repair a 4" section of my main sewer line that connects to street?

A plumber came out to clear my main sewer line and upon inspection found that a 4" piece of the pipe was cracked with roots growing in there. The piece is right new where it connects to the city connection. He said the pipe would have to be replaced and estimated $5,000. This is a home we just bought and knew nothing about. The plumber said there had been previous work done to the pipe within the last 5 years. The previous owner put in the down stairs bathroom, he should've known about this shouldn't he? Do I have any recourse to get any money out of him for the repairs?

Public Comments

1. Like the old saying goes, location, location, location, Where I live in central Pa. I charge $6 / LF. In the city you will probably pay $60/LF.
2. Did you happen to get a home warranty?? This might be covered under the home warranty. If not, you will have to prove that the old owner new of this plumbing problem and didn't tell you. Example, you can talk to your neighbors and ask them if the old owner ever had plumber come out and snake the pipes, and if he did, when. $5,000 sounds very high to replace a pipe. Unless they are going to have to dig the street up, then the cost will go way up. Call for more estimates and tell them what the first plumber found (without telling them the price).
3. I would call the city first and see if they will fix it. You may be surprised, it's definitely worth the call. If they tell it's your problem, then fix it yourself. You will need a sawzall (reciprocating saw), a package of 14 or 18 TPI (teeth per inch) bi-metal blades, about $25, a piece of sch40 pvc and 2 no hub clamps and a 5/16 nut driver. I'm guessing the pipe is 4" so get the same size pipe and pipe clamps. Any hardware or lumber store should have all this. The cutting will be very slow but it works, I've done it dozens of times. Make sure you cut out the entire cracked area, cut your new pipe 1/2 inch shorter than what you removed. Slide your pipe flanges on, insert pipe and tighten bands. You can do it! Good luck.
4. Heck, buy a shovel and some 4 inch pipe and get to work. Dig out a hole around the break, use a hack saw, cut out the section, and use connectors and new pipe to repair it. Cost about $20 in materials, or less. A 10 ft section is less than $10, I just bought some. But if some crook quotes you $5,000 get several other quotes and you'll see a big difference. My mother's house had to have a new line, 140 feet (long lot to the alley) and the entire new line installed only cost $400. Guess it depends on where you are and how crooked the guys are. Good luck. I do my own plumbing and other home repairs, grew up on a farm, so it is just not reasonable to me to hire someone to do something so simple.
5. If nothing else pans out, call your insurance agent. At one time, a blanket policy would pick up the cost of sewer replacement if it was due to tree root, but that was taken advantage of, and I'm not sure what, if anything, they'll do about it these days. It's worth making the phone call, though. Was the plumber going to replace all the way to the house, or just the 4' section for $5000? All the way, sounds ok. Just a 4' section seems a little high, unless it's 12' down. Note: it's not a very fun job for a do-it-yourselfer.