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Plumbing: How to locate drain pipe under concrete slab

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Forum: PlumbingReplies: 2, Views: 23
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Brent_In_NoVa
Sterling, VA
(Zone 6b)

January 11, 2008
10:31 PM

Post #4389921

I am dealing with a 35-year-old house that sits on a concrete slab. It appears that the drain pipe from the kitchen has collapsed, corroded or something (it is not draining and an snake comes back with soil). We have talked with a plumber and contractor and they seem a bit too anxious to pull out the jackhammers and start busting up the concrete to get at the pipe. I am not that anxious to cut out a section of the $2K wood floor that was just installed 2 years ago.

Is there a way to locate a pipe that is buried in the ground? This seems like a common enough problem. I am picturing some type of probe that could be inserted down the pipe with a sensor that could locate the probe. We have talked with different neighbors that have different information/ideas about where the kitchen pipe would run.

Any other thoughts or ideas are welcome. TIA!

- Brent
claypa
West Pottsgrove, PA
(Zone 6b)

January 12, 2008
1:22 PM

Post #4391618

Sometimes you can tell which general direction a pipe is going by using a snake. These days a lot of big plumbing companies use cameras to pinpoint problems in a drain so they can minimize the demolition reguired to get to it. Also, it's possible that drain locations are on the plans for the house, if you have access to them.
Good luck, it doesn't sound like fun.
Brent_In_NoVa
Sterling, VA
(Zone 6b)

January 14, 2008
9:29 PM

Post #4402987

Thanks. The plumber that I talked to today is coming back with a camera that has a locator on it. The guy says they can tell the exact location and depth of the pipe. I figured that something like that had to exist (though they are charging around $300 for this service). It sounds better than the "cut a hole and hope we find the pipe approach" that the first guy advocated.

"it doesn't sound like fun" You got that right...there are a lot of things I would rather do with a couple grand!!

- Brent

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