I Experienced the Plumbing Disaster Nobody Sees Coming: My Pipes Completely Crumbled

Welcome to Domestic Disasters, where we take a look at some of your worst mess-ups and grossest finds. We take them to the experts to find out how big of a problem they are and how expensive they are to fix.

Last year, Lori and her husband, Dirk, were on a Paris vacation when her brother called to tell them that he had found sewage backed up in their basement. “Fortunately, I paid for my cellphone to work in France, so that was a good thing,” she said with a laugh. Unfortunately, that was end of the good news. It turned out that Lori’s pipes, which were made from cast iron, had rusted and collapsed. All of them needed to be replaced, which required removing most of the concrete from the basement, as well as digging up the the yard.

What They Tried

The first plumber never showed up. By the time the second one came, Lori was home from vacation. Assuming there was a blockage, he forced water through the pipes to try to blast it out. But that didn’t work. The third company opted to examine the pipes with a scope, but soon discovered it was too dark to see anything, so they began digging them up.

“We knew it was bad when you could hear the workers using expletives and saying things like, ‘Take a photo of this, so-and-so will never believe it,’” said Dirk. “When you hear that, you know it’s never going to be a good outcome.”

A couple months and $20,000 later, Lori and Dirk had shiny new PVC pipes underground and a new concrete floor in the basement. Life was almost back to normal, except for, of course, their savings account, which is still recovering — along with Lori’s shade garden, which was ripped up by the excavator.

Clearly, this fix was not DIY-able, so Lori and Dirk made the right call by leaving it to the pros. But, did the pros approach the problem the right way? And could Lori and Dirk have seen this coming, and taken steps to prevent it?

A Pro Weighs In On What Went Wrong

Until the arrival of PVC in the mid-1970s, cast iron was the common choice for house wastewater pipes. But the problem with that material is that, over five or eight decades, sulphuric acid from wastewater eats away the metal from the inside, while acidic soil corrodes it from the outside. Eventually, a quarter-inch thick pipe becomes hollowed out like a soda can.

“The day that something disturbs it or the last of the wall lets go, it doesn’t crack, it collapses,” says Mark Kay, editor of SepticTankHub. “Saying it ‘crumbled’ isn’t just the homeowner being dramatic, it’s the textbook definition.”

While failure of cast iron pipes is universal, pipes in houses with septic tanks, like Lori and Dirk’s, are especially prone to premature failure, since the effluent in the tank provides a particularly hydrogen-sulfide rich environment.

Did the Homeowners Get it Right?

Yes, once the failure happened. “Replacing the whole run, not just fixing the section that failed, was the right move,” says Kay. “And a week to move out was right, not overkill, since sewage in a living space can lead to health problems.”

However, they could have saved themselves some money and hassles by getting their pipes inspected long before the failure. A few hundred dollar inspection in the the years leading up to it could have caught the impending collapse while it was still repairable, or at least allowed them the luxury of getting competitive bids and timing the pipe replacement to minimize disruption to their lives.

Did the Pros Get it Right?

Yes, and no. The first plumber assumed there was a blockage and forced water through the pipes to try to clear it. But, especially on a home with cast-iron pipes, the correct first step should have been to inspect the line, usually with a camera, to determine the true cause of the problem, says Joseph Wade of Benjamin Franklin Plumbing.

“From there, the plumber can recommend the least disruptive repair that will actually solve the problem,” says Wade.

In this case, full replacement was the only option. But sometimes, if the issue is diagnosed sooner, less-invasive repairs might be possible, like trenchless pipe lining.

The Panic Meter

We rank Domestic Disasters on a four-point scale.

• Do It Yourself: The easiest issues to fix. You can handle it all on your own.
• Phone a Friend: This issue might require a little outside assistance.
• Call a Pro: This situation warrants professional assistance.
• SOS: Problems that are so dangerous, you’re directly at risk of injury or worse.

The solution to a corroded cast iron pipe disaster is always to call in a pro, and the more quickly that happens the better, so it doesn’t become an SOS.

“Sewage backups can damage walls, flooring, insulation, personal belongings and even parts of the home’s structure if left unchecked,” says Wade. “Had there been earlier warning signs, and had a plumber been called sooner, there may have been a better chance to limit the extent of the damage.”

The Cost Differential

An early catch is key to mitigating costs. With cast iron pipes, even if everything is working fine, call in a pro to inspect them with a sewer camera. It’ll run between $100 and $500, and some plumbers will apply that cost toward any needed repair work.

“If the camera finds scale, but sound walls, professional descaling/hydro jetting costs $200 to $800, and buys the pipe years,” says Kay.

Bigger problems, caught early enough, can sometimes be fixed with a spot repair ($1,000 to $4,000), or trenchless lining ($80 to $250 per foot).

However, if the pipes are too far gone, as they were in Lori and Dirk’s house, they will have to be excavated and replaced, which typically costs between $4,000 and $25,000 for the pipes, plus potentially thousands more for sewage and mold remediation.

Typically, a standard homeowners insurance policy won’t cover any of this, as was the case for Lori and Dirk. However, there are often add-on endorsements available for service line and water backup coverage, for a combined $30 to $100 a year.

“For what’s it worth, this family’s $20,000 under-slab demolition, yard excavation to the septic tank and new pipe and concrete is right in the honest middle of the range,” says Kay. “Painful, but they probably weren’t gouged.”

How to Prevent Crumbling Cast Iron Pipes

Virtually every home in the country built before the mid-1970s has cast iron sewage pipe, which means this is an extremely common disaster in older houses.

“Because cast iron typically has a useful life of between 50 and 100 years, we’re hitting a sweet spot right now, with millions of homes from the 1920s through the early ’70s hitting critical decay,” says plumber and disaster response expert Alfred Pintor.

But while cast iron pipes are bound to deteriorate, “the good news is that this is one of the most preventable $20,000 disasters in all things homeownership,” says Kay. “The pipe tells you years ahead, and a $300 inspection gets the timeline in your hands.”

If you have cast iron pipes in your home, here are the keys to preventing a disaster.

• Have a professional camera inspection done every few years, even if everything is still working fine. And if you are buying an older home, Kay recommends requesting a sewer scope, which isn’t typically included in home inspections.
• Call in a pro if you see warning signs, like multiple drains backing up, recurring clogs, gurgling toilets, muddy spots in the yard or a sewage smell in the basement.
• If your cast iron is still in good shape, get it professionally descaled every two to three years, by someone who specifically works on old cast iron (otherwise, the wrong pressure can damage old pipes).
• Don’t use chemical drain cleaners, which can damage pipes. Instead, try enzyme cleaners or a snake. If backups persist, that’s likely a sign of a larger problem.
• If you have a septic tank, pump it every three to five years.
• Purchase insurance endorsements for sewer service line and water backup coverage.
• If you’ll be away for a vacation, turn off the main water and install a leak sensor ($30 to $60) next to the lowest drain in the house.
• Know your disadvantages: coastal humidity, salt, acidic soil, a high water table and nearby mature trees all decrease the life expectancy of cast iron.
• Only flush human waste and toilet paper. Never flush wipes, even if they are labeled “flushable.”
• If you experience a backup, shut off the house water immediately, to prevent more from entering the sewage system.
• Always get two or three bids for repairs, including one from a trenchless specialist.

“But if you own a home built before 1975, please don’t panic, just scope that line,” says Pintor. “Drain lines don’t fail without decades of warnings.”

And if you do have a newer home, regular pipe inspections are still a good idea. “Obviously newer homes with PVC drains won’t rust out, but never say never with any home,” says Pintor. “Tree roots, shifting soil and improper installation can destroy plastic drain lines just the same.”

What the Homeowner Learned

Lori said her biggest takeaway from the ordeal was to always be prepared for the unexpected when it comes to homeownership. “A house is big, and there’s a lot of things that can go wrong,” she said.

For her, that preparation now includes having a better understanding of what’s covered by her homeowners policy. “That was eye-opening for me,” she said. “I was really frustrated that they were’t going to pay for any of this.”

But even more importantly, “Make sure you have an emergency fund, because unfortunately something like this can happen when you least expect it,” she said. “I mean, $20,000, that’s a lot!”

About the Experts

• Mark Kay is the founder and editor of SepticTankHub, a free, data-driven directory that helps homeowners find and compare verified septic and wastewater professionals in the US. He also writes the site’s homeowner’s guides on septic plumbing, sewer line problems and maintenance to avoid expensive backups.
• Alfred Pintor is a home maintenance expert and founder of Copper Collar Services, a veteran-owned plumbing, sanitation and disaster response company servicing the Southern California region.
• Joseph Wade is VP of Operations at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, which operates in more than 300 locations across North America.

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Do you have a Domestic Disaster experience you’d like featured on Family Handyman? Email us your experience at fhmfranchises@tmbi.com.

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