Slab House, Drain Line, What if?

[Donald Crockett]

Even though I would not “Do This Myself” I think this is the right forum.

Most of our properties are 3 bed 1 bath houses with slab foundations built in the 60's and they've done very well for us. We continue to look for properties that fit this profile. Basements around here usually have problems which are costly to remedy.

Now, I was watching a video of replacement of a drain pipe under a slab house. These guys actually hand dug a tunnel under the slab large enough for a person to crawl into all the way from the perimeter to the point where the pipe came down through the slab. That looks difficult and expensive.

I”m pretty sure that our houses have galvanized drain pipes. I think these pipes are prone to rusting internally and becoming slow, eventually stopping up completely. We've never had to deal with that. We have had some stop up because of convoluted, complex bends always accessible from inside the house but never had to replace a complete drain line.

My question is, if it comes to this, how is this usually addressed? The rooter guy says they can be cleaned with the rooter, the jetter guy says rooting doesn't work but they can be jetted and the plumbing contractor says neither of those will work they have to be replaced with plastic.

I'm not expecting any trouble like this but forewarned is forearmed. Does anyone here have any experience to share so I (and others) might be prepared with the knowledge should we be faced with this? Is it worth having the drains looked at with a camera when rehabbing?