Reply #11: Since you rent ! [View All]

A cool thing about power flushing the main drain line is it clears out all waste material and any thing else that may get in those pipes as a result of creaks or breaks. This will clear the way for a camera. With the pipes flushed out the camera ,that costs about $150.00 . The camera can run through the drain line all the way to the city sewer main. If than there is a break or breaks in the drain line under ground, that area or those areas can be pin pointed. The camera of course is hooked up to a video recorder.
With that exact information given there are breaks or a broken section of pipe ,there are three ways to correct the problem. One being to dig up the entire drain line and replace it. 1 The other being to insert a sleeve which is like a band aid. And the third is to dig up the damaged area of pipe ,cut it back on both sides of the break and repair it. A sleeve /band aid can be inserted along the inside of the pipe, you use the camera to verify the fix is good.

Apartment owners or rental property owners like the dig up the damaged section method because they can hire a laborer to do the digging ,than either do the repair themselves or hire someone that knows how to do it. That's about the cheapest method !And they get around big plumbing outfit fees ! Or THE BILL BILL !

Actually there are any number of variables in so far as what it could be! But as a general rule in very many cases it's a clog. Requires a plunger or a snake. Remove the toilet, you have instant access to the main drain line. Unless of course you get it with a plunger or a toilet snake ! It's like a one two three thing. !