We sold a home recently. 2 months after living in the home the buyers experienced a sewage backup in their tub. They called a plumber out who attempted to put a camera down the sewer line. It was clogged in both directions. The new homeowners were told a new line would need to be installed because roots were in the line and the line had collapsed. They paid $6000 to have 150 feet of new sewer line installed. Now they are suing us for "non-disclosure". We did not experience any problems with the sewer line in the 10 years we lived there. Question 1: Is it possible for this orangeburg pipe to collapse/fail unexpectedly? Should their have been some ongoing problems prior to the failure? Question 2: Doesn't $6000 sound like a lot of money to charge for 150 ft of sewer replacement? We live in the Sacramento area of California. Please help. Any info would be helpful. The judge has asked for more information about orangeburg pipe. Thank you.
COMMUNITY FORUM
I am not a lawyer or anyone important...
1. Once you buy a place unless the bill of sale has provisions in it for what you are asking, NO DEAL. You are stuck with the house as you buy it.
2. If the pipes in the yard are more than 15 years old, unless they are cast iron, are due to go at any time. The cast iron ones are good for about 20-25 years.
3. Roots in sewer pipes are quite common especially around the joints. It doesn't take very long for trees to find the joints and start penetrating the pipes. Use either a good roto-rooter to snag them out or use one of the root disolver stuff in the pipes.
As for cost... $6000 is cheap....
David
Only responding to roots in the pipe and their effect on it...there would have been indicators (small back-ups) prior to the pipe being loaded with roots.If the pipe all of a sudden broke because of roots under,over,or around the pipe which is what I suspect,then noone is to blame in my opinion.
You are only liable if the new owners can prove that you knew of the problem and failed to disclose it. That would be difficult, unless you in fact knew of the problem and failed to disclose. Orangeburg can go at any time, with little notice. An ocassional snaking of the line is not a problem that requires you to research whether the pipe was orangeburg. Good luck!
