I'm living in UC/West Philly, and the sewer is backing up into my basement, coming out of where my HVAC hose drains into my main pipe heading out of the house.

1) Is this the City's problem at all?

2) If not, who knows a good honest plumber?

Thanks!

Goffredo Plumbing & Heating

806 S 47th St
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Phone: (215) 724-3425





Sounds nasty. Good luck.

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My restlessness is my nemesis.

No it is most likely not the city's problem. You probably just have a clogged main drain. A drain cleaning person should be able to clear that out for 100 bucks or less (assuming it isn't something more serious).

Unfortunately, I don't believe the city has responsibility with a backed-up sewer. This happened to my parents in their finished basement (up in Connecticut), and it was a mess.

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- George -

http://www.barackobama.com

1. No it is not in any way a city problem.

2. Zoom drain cleaners are very competant and not cheap and they can video your pipe. I wouldn't commit to any major work without a video or other real tangeable If you do find a good plumber, let me know, they are very, very rare!

Garth Gill is a good plumber, but pricey. pm me if you want his #, I don't know it offhand.

My understanding is that the property owner is responsible up to where your sewer line ties into the main sewer in the middle of the street.

This could be a big and expensive job if you need to replace sections or all of your sewer line. But it may just mean you need your sewer line snaked.

Bud's Drain cleaning service should be able to snake the drain 610-446-5544. There is also Rotorooter and lots of others. They should charge about $75.

Godfreddo is good too. I would have them bid the job if you need the line replaced. But try to have your drain snaked first.

Also something lots of people do not realize is that the only thing that should go down a drain besides water, pee and poop is toilet paper. That means no tissues, no papertowels, no napkins and definitely no feminine products. The drain guys refer to them as little white mice. Toilet paper is meant to break apart whereas tissues, papertowels ect are meant to get wet and NOT break apart. Think of the Bounty ad.

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Tom O'Malley

Thanks Everybody!

My wife got it taken care of...somebody she knew apparently. Although it was $150, which according to this thread was a little too much. Especially considering I still have to go to Home Depot and rent a pump....

I had the same problem last week, flooding in my basement that was sewage. My regular plumber could not fix it, so he recommended a drain cleaning company called Drain Medic. They came out within the hour. Nice looking van, thought i would be paying alot of money.

He had to snake the line from outside. He then did a video inspection from outside and found that i had a sagged pipe.

All in all the guy from Drain Medic was fantastic, he wore boot covers when he came into my house, and just was an overall great experience, i would recommend Drain Medic to anyone. The cost was in the $350 range, but well worth it to know what is going on with my pipes. He took his time and gave me a DVD of my sewer line.

I'll second Bud's. Had him unclog my bathtub recently and he did a great job. Cost was something like $125, I think, which surprised me at first, but really wasn't unreasonable given the time he spent on the job and the fact that he's basically an independent contractor.

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