Swimming in ... Sewage back up (Pittsburgh, Penn: homeowners insurance, house, landscaping)

[Augie6]

So my parents are having a somewhat unique situation and like to run it by you folks on here.. Out of all my forums Pittsburgh sub set has some of the best participants... ( not to mention its where they live)

On side of house a what we believe is the sewage line that has tree root damage..there is a outlet that would be snaked every summer to help back up , overflow, and in house unilties to be clogged. However now.. Every time flush the toilet contents overflow onto parents landscaping, which now looks like a septic over flow... Has been going on throughout winter after inspection however now in the summer months and this rain, becoming a problem...

From past inspections would be a 10K job, shutter to ask this question, but are my parents financially responsible for replacing this pipe...

Please understand I have no experiencing in this and not even sure if provided teh correct information also included some more details below if helpful or needed.


They have a corner lot house that has the unique attribute to share 3 different "municipalities", two townships and State . The road in front is State maintained and owned, the drive way of house is in Municipality A , while on the left portion of house ( important ) yard and accompany road is on border of Municipality A and Township B... All (3) have different pipe schedules for out property. Along with water co. gas company and sewage all have altering schematics..


Thank you for any help...

[villageidiot1]

Yes, I can't see any scenario where they would not be financially responsible. My in-laws recently went through the same situation. It cost $13K to fix. It involved breaking up and redoing part of the basement and patio to replace the sewage pipe.

[ditchdigger]

They have a corner lot house that has the unique attribute to share 3 different
"municipalities", two townships and State . The road in front is State
maintained and owned, the drive way of house is in Municipality A , while on
the left portion of house ( important ) yard and accompany road is on border of
Municipality A and Township B... All (3) have different pipe schedules for out
property. Along with water co. gas company and sewage all have altering
schematics..

Who they pay their sewage bill to would probably tell you who owns the sewer main they're tied in to.

Also, the municipal boundary might not even matter, if there's a "sewer authority" it could cross municipal boundaries. And yes, from the sound of it, it's going to be their problem to pay for.

[guy2073]

Go to plumbing store, buy some inspection dye, flush it down the toilet, if it looks like an alian was shot in the yard, it is your pipe. If you get a plumber with a camera and a locator, and the rest of the line is good, you may only have to replace one section.

[Augie6]

Is there any type of insurance or assistance to help with this??? There would be no possible way they could afford this fully out right........

Last summer a plumber said to get "pipe" insurance from water and gas company... was like 1.60 per bill... did not add up to me.. but was just hoping could be some type of help....

wishful thinking...very wishfull thinking

[sskink]

Originally Posted by Augie6

Is there any type of insurance or assistance to help with this??? There would be no possible way they could afford this fully out right........

Last summer a plumber said to get "pipe" insurance from water and gas company... was like 1.60 per bill... did not add up to me.. but was just hoping could be some type of help....

wishful thinking...very wishfull thinking

I don't know what town you're in, but here in USC, Penn American Water sends out mailings several times a year about insuring water/sewer lines. So yes, there might be insurance you can buy for that from your town's water company. But it's also probably too late for that since the problem already happened.

I would check your parents' homeowners insurance though. At least if when fixing the thing if contractors have to damage part of the house, you might have coverage for that. Likely no coverage for anything in the yard though.

[SuburbanPioneer]

My understanding is that you can't use sewage line insurance for at least 6 month from the purchase date. This is to discourage buying insurance to fix existing issues and then dropping it. But... if they can wait another 6 months, it may be worth a try.

I also doubt that the homeowners insurance would cover this, but it won't hurt to check.

Other than that, they can probably find a way to finance the repair. A HELOC would probably be the cheapest way if they have an income of some sort.