Replacing 20' sewer lateral.

[1968FormulaS340]

Digging it up myself, with a shovel.
Replacing the pipe and couplers.

$98.76

Buying a permit so I can "legally" do something the city told me to do.

$106.00


The best part...... They are not worried about sewage leaking out, they are worried about ground water getting into my pipe and making it's way to the water treatment plant.

I guess the fact that the treatment ponds are like 20 square acres, open to the raid doesn't matter.

(everyone in our city had a camera ran down their pipe)

I got lucky...... My uncle works for the city, average repair cost has been $3,000-$5,000.

Some poor bastards that have their lateral running to the main out in the street have to pay to have the street dug up and repaired........


Imagine getting that letter....... You have 120 days to make this ($15,000) repair or we can start fining you $2,000 a day.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I love livin in the county.

 

[pishta]

My dad had to pull a permit to REPLACE his dishwasher....because the old one broke!

 

[daredevil]

I never heard of buying a perrmit to repair a sewer line. Replacing the whole thing yes. but not for a repair.The reason they dont want ground water is because with the extra volume their pumps cant keep up in a bad storm.

 

[zhandfull]

Sometimes being a home owner is just shitty!

 

[1968FormulaS340]

Good news..... Just passed my inspection (didn't pass the first one).

Had to get a bit more angle on the pipe and go with a different coupling at one fitting.

I had just about enough of being wet and muddy in our soggy 40 degree weather.

Total cost ended up being $140 (+ $106 for the permit), much less than the $2,500 the neighbor just paid for basically the same job.

More good news.... Had a weak spark on our furnace ignitor, new one was $165. I looked over the old one and found a bad solder spot on one of the pins. 5 minutes later the furnace is working like a champ and I get to hold onto that $165.

Sometimes things are worth doing yourself and I always give it my best shot before pulling in a pro.

Now I can get back to the car.

 

[OneOfMany]

I'm with you on the doing it by yourself. And after I keep presenting the fake labor bills to my wife for the work I perform, she has come around too

Good job. And done right as well..

Grant

 

[64X2]

Our city will let you pull the permit, but unless your licensed to do the work they won't let you do the repair.....

It is a money making racket between the city and contractors.....