Having the Main Sewer Line Replaced. Yikes!

Last Summer I discovered that I had a major plumbing problem. My sewer line was leaking and causing the main line to sink! YIKES!
In the past 12 months the situation worsened and needed to be fixed before it caused major damage.
So in come the plumbers and their Bobcat! I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to find once they started digging, after all, the house is over 75 yeas old!
I also have never have seen what the pipes actually look like underground so I was surprised to find out that the house had terracotta pipes. Back in the 40s when my neighborhood was built, they did not have PVC/plastic materials to use so the norm as to use terracotta for sewer pipes.
The problem with terracotta is that it cracks over time from the ground shifting and tree roots, so needless to say the pipes were replaced with PVC so that this will never have to be done again! The PVC will last forever! You can see more pictures including the new pipes on my blog.
Jennifer @ Decorated Chaos
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  • Go Green Plumbing Go Green Plumbing on Apr 11, 2015
    @Woodbridge Terracotta was widely used for sewer and storm drainage piping on the outside and sometimes even the inside of residences across the country. Orangeburg piping was used during the World War II era due to the shortage of metals. It was also used for storm drains and sewer lines. The poster is correct, the broken line in the picture is terracotta, and I have seen terracotta look just as good after 50 years of sewer service... The black line below the concrete is cast iron (service weight) not orangeburg, orangeburg was never that round, especially not after years of service... If you notice the cast was cut with a diamond blade (power tool shown in the same picture) in order to tie the PVC line back onto it... If it were in fact orangeburg then the plumber would not have tied a new line to it.
  • Cor1382303 Cor1382303 on Sep 04, 2015
    Jennifer, that sure must have been scary to know about the main line sinking. Hey, something like this happened to me but mostly on my sewer line. The fun part was having to do the sewer line repair with several HVAC contractors. <a href='http://www.southwestplumbing.biz/services/sewer' ></a>
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