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At my girlfriend's mom's house she purchased last year. It's an older home built in the 50's. They are having drainage problems and flooding in the walk out area below grade (see pictures). We popped up some boards and the upstairs sewage is draining in the open under these boards. Is this normal? I thought sewage should be to a public sewer or septic hidden from open air.

Water is coming from under steps too, so i think it's bad drainage and we started pulling those boards and see crap water..

Pictures:

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Jon
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eaglei22
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    This is quite abnormal for sure! – ThreePhaseEel Jun 30 '17 at 00:14
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    That is very wrong and a serious health concern. – The Evil Greebo Jun 30 '17 at 00:30
  • A sewage pipe with an outlet that's just sitting there below the deck, not connected to anything? In my part of the world, that's definitely not normal. Are you absolutely sure that the sewage is coming from that pipe? Maybe the pipe that you see is just for draining rainwater, or it's an old pipe that's not connected to anything anymore. – Mike Baranczak Jun 30 '17 at 00:35
  • @MikeBaranczak it is sewage.. every time we flush the upstairs toliet water comes out, and it smells like sewage. I don't even know where to begin with this. – eaglei22 Jun 30 '17 at 00:44
  • We didn't notice any problems or even smell last year, but those old boards are pretty tight so thats probably why.. but is the water just absorbing into the soil and poop just decomposing? Or is it possible there is a septic its flowing to. I don't have septic tank experience, but i would imagine the pipe would lead into the tank. – eaglei22 Jun 30 '17 at 00:47
  • No, this is definitely NOT what a proper septic system looks like. – Mike Baranczak Jun 30 '17 at 00:50
  • No, I don't know where to begin either. I'd bite the bullet and call a plumber. – Mike Baranczak Jun 30 '17 at 00:54
  • Do you have a septic tank, or are you connected to sewers? – mmathis Jun 30 '17 at 18:13
  • Wow! She should call an attorney and explore her options. This is definitely not right. – ArchonOSX Jun 30 '17 at 18:57
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    There is a clean out above, to the far left of yard. We couldn't find a plat of survey with the closing documents so i believe there is no septic, just leading to the public sewer system. – eaglei22 Jun 30 '17 at 19:02
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    Talking with the mom a plumber was called. I looked at the paperwork and it looks like he came across a blockage with the camera pretty far in, so he is looking at pressuring and clearing all the pipes. So is this pipe possibly an overflow pipe in the event of a blockage? The plumber didnt seem to know. – eaglei22 Jun 30 '17 at 19:07
  • I guess it's possible. But if a professional plumber who actually examined this setup up-close doesn't know why it's there, then I won't attempt to speculate. – Mike Baranczak Jul 02 '17 at 02:17
  • @MikeBaranczak Don't think that "professional plumber" is a magician which is dealing with unexplained and mysterious forces... The water and drain piping is rather simple stuff, what it matters is that professional plumber knows how to connect and repair them and knows the regulations. – BJovke Jul 05 '17 at 10:21
  • @eaglei22 You can always try to track this pipe to the inside of the house and try to figure out where it is connected. Then it will be clear what is it's purpose. Also if there's a shaft of public sewage system and you can open it and see the connection coming from the house, you can try flushing water in different parts of the house and see if it is coming to that shaft. – BJovke Jul 05 '17 at 10:27
  • @eaglei22, it's been awhile....what was the outcome of this? – elrobis Jan 09 '18 at 16:21
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    @elrobis forgot to follow up with this. D Duncan's answer is correct. The main drain had tree roots coming through it, so a lot of foreign material got in there. It had to be professionally cleaned by a plumber. The person who "renovated" the home covered all the clean out access. The floor one was covered with tile, the other two were dry walled over. Not sure how the plumber figured out where they were, but he did, and now we have to repair those areas, properly. Also, that area under the deck pipe vent comes from a Y connection, so it was overflowing there. I haven't seen that type of.. – eaglei22 Jan 09 '18 at 16:29
  • system before in the event of overflow. In newer homes. But good thing it was in place as I am not sure what would have happened otherwise, besides a backup somewhere in the house. – eaglei22 Jan 09 '18 at 16:30
  • @eaglei22, gald to know you got the problem resolved. As for repairing the drywall, if possible, you might want to consider installing some [access panels](https://www.amazon.com/Oatey-34044-Access-Panel-29-Inch/dp/B005SRVJ0U) in the locations behind drywall so they are easier to work with in future scenarios. Hopefully they're behind some closet walls but.....it sounds like that kind of forethought may not have been a concern during the earlier renovations. :/ – elrobis Jan 09 '18 at 20:24
  • @elrobis, yea the person who did the last reno clearly wasn't licensed or skilled in anything. The place has a lot of hidden things I am sure. I wasn't there on the walk through before they purchased the house, or I would have definitely persuaded them to find something else. The porch light, and outside faucet were installed upside down (Should have been a clue right there). a G Damn joke of a renovation if you ask me. – eaglei22 Jan 10 '18 at 13:13

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You have a clogged main drain and the sewage is coming up from the drain vent in the yard. Get the drain cabled.

D Duncan
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