Broken Sewer Line

[Kent Harris]

Back in May I got a call from my Tenant saying that raw sewage had half flooded the house. I had the plumber come out and he showed me with the scope (Camera) the sewer line was broken 8 feet under the foundation.

About two weeks ago the Tenant texted me saying the house flooded with raw sewage again, after the washing machine on the second floor dumped water into the sewer pipes. I called the same plumbing company and the Plumber said there was a break 15 feet under the foundation, this was on a Friday and told the plumber I was out of town till Monday and I wanted him to show me the break on the scope.

Monday rolled around and he told me he had made a mistake and there was just blockage in the line 15 feet under the foundation and that he had cleaned it before I had arrived (He was there for 30 minutes before me and had no access to the inside of the house). At this point I knew he was either lying about the break or lying there was no break at all.

I called another plumbing company who scoped out the lines on Wednesday and they had showed me blockage 25 feet under the foundation, which would have caused the house to flood with raw sewage again! The second plumbing company even made a video of it and put it on YouTube.

It took the second plumbing company an hour and forty five minutes to clean the lines out with a 1,500 PSI pressure washer (they cleaned 3 feet of pipe). The second plumbing company said that the first Plumbing company had installed Schedule 20 on the risers on the cleanout and there was a good possibility that they put Schedule 20 under the foundation which is illegal. I paid $7,500 to run 4 inch PVC 8 feet under the house plus 50 feet in the back yard to the sewer main and I had specified that I wanted Schedule 40 all the way to the sewer main. The reason we replaced the pipes in the backyard is the Plumber told the tenant that there were bellies in the pipe that were also contributing to the sewage problem.

My question is who can I report the Plumbing company to for putting in the wrong pipe? I also want a refund from the first plumbing company for having to call another plumbing company. I asked the first plumbing company for there insurance information and they refuse to give it to me, since I am going to file a malpractice claim against the first Plumbing Company.