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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.
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.
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!!
There is another way, but it is even more expensive.
A work associate has a similar problem. Seems that the ground under the drain line has shrunk or subsided since the house was built, so there is a bow in the line. And it is under a Pergo floor on the slab.
Local plumbers can tunnel under the slab to repair it, Estimate from the company that used a camera - $16,000. I called the plumbing company I use - They said $400 per foot of tunnel.
Yikes! This thread popped back on my watch list...bringing back bad memories!! The first plumber said "sure we have a camera that will fit in that small pipe" but they did not. The RotoRooter company came out with some type of sensor (don't remember if they did a camera or not) and located the location of the pipe. A friend that works in construction came out and assisted with sawing through the wood and concrete floor to locate and fix the pipe and patch the concrete. It was a very messy job. I then had to pay to have the floor repaired.
