To continue my catch up work, here is some more work that has been going on.

11/7/12 Sewer Lateral Work

Sewer Lateral Work/Inspection is required in the city of Oakland and much of Alameda County. Not all have the same requirements, however if your sewer lines fail during inspection, the property is immediately red flagged with EBMUD and you are subject to fix it - usually at the sellers cost. This only occurs and is required when transferring ownership of your home. If you plan on living in your house forever and never get it inspected, then your good - essentially grandfather in and the mandatory sewer work is not required. That is the only exception that I can think of that would apply to this blog - but there are other exceptions for homes with more than one tenant or address (i.e. a Condo).

So when we started to purchase this, the rule for this Sewer Lateral work just took effect. Yay (not!). A headache for us, yes...what is meant at the time - very unclear. However after days, weeks and months of waiting for the home, I too learned why and what needed to be done. And so the journey for this begins.

Inspection was required to see if it would pass - great. Scheduled that and guess what? FAIL! Old sewers lines were made of Terracotta - yes, what you see on Mediterranean Style House roofs (such as Costa Brava in Bayfarm)...that burgundy ish colored tile of a roof material. Yes, the sewer lines were pipes of that stuff. So over time, it breaks, cracks due to earth movement. Well - that wasnt smart, but was the safest cheapest way to do it back in the day I guess. When originally plumbed through the ground, Im sure it was a fairly straight shot to the main sewer line in the street...like, who cares if it breaks under ground???

When you get inspected, the folks inspecting stick a camera through an entrance in your home (usually a cleanout on your property of by removing a toilet and entering that way) and begin searching the line until it reaches the sewer main (usually located in the middle of the street you live on). They check for cracks, standing water, anything that would show water leakage into soil. The camera is to serve as proof and yes - it is recording when they begin the test. This is what goes into the records if your house fails. Why? - who can prove anything underground needs fixing if you can even see it and require you to fix something - well - technology at its best helps do that.

To make a long story short, the house failed the test and we were told to get bids on how much it was going to cost to fix it. This was all done before buying the house and all details were worked out ahead of time. To spare details - I got quotes, chose the best folks to do it and submitted the cost in our offer when buying the house. It was accepted and all costs for this was covered - money from the seller to go into escrow account and contractors to collect from there. I was to schedule everything once we closed.

To give you an idea of how much this cost - estimated work to do everything was $13.5k. This is not typical, but because our property is on a hill, sloped property and has a decent size footprint, the work was much more than what you would typically see for a normal lot here in Oakland. I asked about what it normally costs people on an average and it was anywhere from $4-8k. Interesting.

So this work took 3 days and involved a ton of digging and quite a large crew to complete in that timeframe. With technology, stuff like this would have taken weeks to complete and would probably cost double what it does today. Rather than digging the pipe out, they have a new technique called trenchless technology. Essentially they locate an end where the old terracotta pipe started and send a new pipe through it to follow its old path, but by bringing in a new pipe behind it. Imagine taking a straw from McDonalds (call this the terracotta pipe) and then forcing a Jack in the Box Straw (the new pipe) through the McDonalds straw. The McDonalds straw is smaller and you are forcing a larger straw inside of it. At some point the straw (with enough force) will give way and break or stretch to make way for the larger straw. This is sort of whats happening. As the new pipe is pulled through, a drill like device is pulverizing the old pipe and is pulling through a new pipe in its place. Amazing technology. The old pipe stays in the soil and they remove as much remnants as they can as it passes openings they create where major points connect to your home. Sounds gross as it is sewer line - but this is deep in the earth. We're not talking surface soil that you could simply dig up with a shovel....we're talking anywhere from 6-10 ft deep. Doesnt sound like a lot, but if you jump down the hole or look down 10 ft of soil, its deep.

Here are a few snap shots of the sewer line replacement that occurred. Though its not something you see as far as "upgrades" go, but its nice knowing that my sewer line is compliant and is not clogged or will ever get clogged. Massive lines, new, and added cleanout areas to ensure no sewer water makes in backwards into the house and an pathway to clear out any massive clogs if you ever get to that point (better see a doctor if you clog your toilet that bad). We have 3 areas where water will burst out of in the even of some massive backup - would technically never reach in the house - which is why they require cleanouts and test is before signing off on the work done (done by a city inspector during a live test of flooding the new lines with water to ensure no leaks and that the cleanouts are working properly.

 Lower right of this pic is a clean out - says sewer on it and is a capped pipe. If I ever need to unclog something MAJOR - the plumbers can go there to inspect. It also serves as the last resort to put over flow water should the city main line backup and cause water to enter back up the lines that go to houses - something Ive never heard of happening, but who knows...



Above: Thats how much pipe was needed to run all my sewer line from the back of the house to the city mainline. Super long run.

Left: Picture of the pipe as it passed through the existing pathway of the old piping. I have a video that shows it moving slowly - they have a machine that is pulling it through.

 Left: This is a shot of the pipe entering from the backyard opening. Still amazed at how this thing worked.

Right: Old terracotta sewer line. As the new pipe passes through, it sometimes will push out old broken pipe it was destroyed. Workers pick up large pieces and haul it off when they leave.

Left: Two massive holes they had to dig. This is where the pipe passes through and then "T's" off to the house. All main areas where you have waste water, the holes are dug to ensure replacing proper fittings needed.














The sewer lines are all new in the house and though you cant see it, just know that we some clean sewer lines! Time consuming fix, free for us and good to have. Once the lines are replaced, you are given a certificate that is good for 20 or 30 years. This means that if and when we sell within that timeframe - the next buyer will know the sewer lines were replaced and no tests will need to be done. Basically compliant for 20-30 years from today. Yay.