Drain Excavation in Douglasville, GA
In a Douglasville house, the boundary between the house drain and the sewer lateral usually sits just outside the foundation, right where many drain digs happen. Which side a break falls on decides the repair and the rules that apply.
Where the house drain ends and the sewer begins
Every fixture in a house drains into branch lines that join a main building drain under the floor. That building drain continues a short distance past the foundation, where it becomes the building sewer, often called the lateral, which runs to the public main. Drain excavation deals with the first part: the branch and building drains under and right beside the house, plus exterior drain lines along the foundation. In Douglasville, knowing which side of that line a break sits on also tells you which permits and standards come into play.
How the camera tells them apart
A camera pushed from a cleanout or a pulled toilet records distance as it travels. Matched against where the foundation wall sits, that count shows whether a defect is under the house, at the wall, or out in the yard. A change in pipe material often shows up at the transition, and a cleanout just outside the house frequently marks the start of the lateral, though layouts vary. With a receiver following the camera's signal from above, the defect's position and depth can be marked on the ground. A dedicated sewer camera inspection produces the same footage when you want it on record.
Trouble right at the foundation
The spot where a drain passes under or through the footing takes a lot of stress. If the soil around the house settles, the pipe can be pinched or sheared at the wall while the sections on either side stay put. Exterior drain piping, such as a kitchen or laundry line that leaves the wall and drops along the outside before joining the main drain, is exposed to the same settling and to damage from landscaping work. Common clues are a wet patch hugging the foundation, a smell near an outside wall, or a backup that affects only the fixtures upstream of that point.
Digging close to the house
Excavating beside a foundation calls for more caution than digging in open lawn. Near the footing the work is done by hand so the soil supporting it is disturbed as little as possible, and the hole is kept no larger than the repair requires. Once the new pipe is in and tested, the backfill is compacted in layers and the finished grade is sloped away from the wall so rainwater does not collect where the trench was.
Permits on each side of the line
Plumbing permits for house drain work go through the city's Building Division. Its plumbing permit page limits homeowners to certain permits, such as a water heater replacement, so a buried drain repair is generally applied for by the contractor.
Past the house drain, the Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority (WSA) has rules of its own, including its own sewer permit for a connection to the public sewer and code standards for the slope, materials and testing of a private lateral. Lateral work is covered under main sewer line repair.
Drain or lateral: three common questions
How do I know if the problem is the drain or the lateral?
Symptoms alone rarely settle it. If only some fixtures back up, the trouble is more likely in a branch or the building drain; if everything backs up together, it is further downstream. Camera footage settles what the symptoms can only hint at.
Does a crack in the foundation mean the drain is broken?
Not necessarily. Foundations crack for many reasons, and most have nothing to do with plumbing. A drain leaking under or beside the house can soften the soil and add to settling, though, so a new crack that shows up alongside slow drains or a damp patch by the wall is a good reason to put a camera in the line. A structural engineer is the one to judge the foundation itself.
Who is responsible for the lateral?
The building sewer that serves a house is generally the owner's responsibility, and WSA's rules treat a private lateral as something that has to meet the plumbing codes. Exactly where the private part ends and the public system begins varies by property, so it is worth confirming with WSA for your address before work on that stretch is planned.
Find out which side the break is on
Not sure whether the trouble lies in your house drain or the lateral? A camera at your Douglasville home answers that before any digging is planned, and Alpha can be reached at (404) 409-4448.