After a few hours of breaking the concrete floor in my basement, near the front of the home, the supervisor arrived and told me that my floor was the thickest one they had ever seen and they would have to come back the next day to finish. He said the job would be a little more costly, due to the thick concrete, but should still be possible from the inside of the basement.
After several hours of breaking and digging the next day, the workers uncovered the sewer pipe, but could not find the damaged area. The supervisor once again arrived to inform me that the damage was not where they suspected and was outside the foundation wall. He said that they would now have to dig up part of my front yard with a backhoe and the cost would now be around $5,000. I have since discovered that this company has several complaints and lawsuits pending against it.
I am extremely upset at this situation and do not want these guys back in my home, but I have a gaping hole in my basement floor full of smelly water. The sewer is open, my basement stinks, I can't use any of the plumbing and I am afraid to stay in the house. What can I do?
-- Mary Paton
ANSWER -- This question came to me via a concerned phone call from Mary's realtor, who asked me to come and look at the situation and offer any advice I could. Knowing this dedicated realtor well, I paid a quick courtesy call to inspect the problem area, as I had just completed a pre-purchase inspection a few blocks away when he called.
The problem of older cast iron drains and sewers becoming damaged and blocked is increasing, as the housing stock ages, trees get larger and the underground pipes exceed their typical life expectancy. While I will answer your question and offer some advice about your problem, there are a couple of other issues that also need further discussion. The first issue is that of proper disclosure by the seller and the second is the lack of a pre-purchase inspection and the conditions surrounding that omission.
It is difficult for me to believe that the seller of your newly acquired home did not have any knowledge of the drain issue. This is based on the fact that you experienced the problem almost immediately after taking possession and the fact that the homeowner had been living in the home for many years. While a partial blockage of the drain from tree roots may not have been noticed or determined during a pre-purchase inspection, a major blockage like yours would have been problematic for the former homeowner. It is therefore the legal responsibility of the seller to tell you, as the prospective purchaser, of a known defect like the blocked sewer. Unfortunately, proving this in court after the fact may be difficult and I recommend you consult a lawyer for advice on pursuing this avenue for damages.
The more important concern I have is that you felt that inclusion of a home inspection in the offer to purchase would jeopardize your chances of buying the home. While I know full well that recent activity in the housing market has led to multiple offers on many homes, I fail to see that as cause to eliminate inclusion of a home inspection as part of the buying process. Many times a home inspection is the only protection buyers have from buying a home with major defects. Even with the help of an experienced realtor, like you had, there is no way that many common problems can be found without a thorough inspection by a CAHPI home inspector. While there may be a small chance that the sewer issue may not have been detected during a pre-purchase inspection, I estimate that it would have been found 90 per cent of the time. The small degree of uncertainty is because the damage to the sewer may be a fair distance from the home, drainage only partially blocked, and not enough water run through the drains to detect a backup during the inspection.
As far as a solution to your immediate dilemma, I would avoid spending any significant amount of time in the house due to the likelihood of dangerous sewer gases in the living space. I would contact a reputable rooter company or licensed plumber to attempt to open the blocked drainpipe, followed by a proper camera inspection. This should determine the exact location and severity of the damage, before digging up your front yard in a fishing expedition. If the damage is on city property, there is a program that may assist you in paying for the repairs. If the damage is indeed on your property, you are responsible for the total cost to excavate and repair the damaged drains. Because excavation of your basement does not appear to have been warranted, I would not pay the previous contractor for any work done. I would put that money toward a proper repair of the drains by a reputable sewer repair contractor and repairs to your basement floor slab after completion. The City of Winnipeg has an extensive list of sewer contractors approved to do repairs on city sewers, which should be available to you for reference.
While I empathize with all the frustrated homebuyers like you who did not feel that including a pre-purchase home inspection was possible in the current real estate climate, I don't understand the reluctance. In other hot real estate markets, like Toronto or Vancouver, inclusion of home inspection conditions are still part of the norm, even when multiple offers are involved. Hopefully, the current downturn in the market and increase in available homes for sale with allow buyers to stop the insanity and include a pre-purchase inspection by a CAHPI inspector in their offer to purchase.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the president of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors -- Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be e-mailed or sent to: Ask The Inspector, P. O. Box 69021, #110-2025 Corydon Ave., Winnipeg, MB. R3P 2G9. Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358 or check out his website at www.trainedeye.ca.
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