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The previous owner of our house tiled the main bathroom before selling the house and flushed the grouting down the toilet. This caused the pipes to become blocked. We've had to break down some of the wall downstairs, cut open the pipes and try to remove the hardened grout, however, it seems that some of the grouting went below floor level and hardened there.

For the minute, we've closed the family bathroom until we decide how to fix it!

We are on a tight budget and not hugely experienced DIYers.

Tester101
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Tina
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3 Answers3

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This is really a comment but too long -

I am not sure of your exact situation but normally if something like this happens you call your real estate agent, police, and bank. You need to file a police report, your real estate agent needs to get a hold of seller's agent (who is ultimately responsible in most states), and you need to talk to bank about freezing any money if you can. It might be too late for this but I don't know. But whatever it is the previous home owner (if can be proven) has committed a criminal act. Not taking action right away hurts your case.

There is no magic to get rid of stuff like grout in pipes. First any serious chemical I might suggest may damage the pipes. Second I am not even sure it is grout in your pipes - it could be various types of cement or thinset too... Then I am not sure to what extent the material got in. This could go all the way to the street which may cost a lot of money - I have seen a similar scenario run home owner 15K done cheaply.

Also most insurance companies don't cover criminal acts that aren't reported. But the issue you have here is that this probably happened before you officially had insurance (that is why I mentioned getting agents involved). If you have some sort of new home owner's insurance that might cover it but they will basically be going after the previous owner for you.

Right now you need to file a report, take a TON of pictures and video and have a plumber come out. You can't start hacking everything up or you are making it worse. The plumber will be able to scope the line to see what the extent of damage there is ($200-300 tops). The last thing you want to do is repair something incorrectly or cause more damage (overflow) and have it blamed on something you have done.

DMoore
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This is a tough one. Depending on where you live and the age of the house means theres different code. What is the pipe made out of. Cast is code here in Chicago.

Access the pipes first. You may even be able to rent one at Home Depot or where ever. Take notes on where in the pipe is affected.

More than likely your going to have to R&R (Remove and Replace) the pipe... no rodder will knock that off cast iron pipe that's for sure..

Russell
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When it's accessible it seems sugar is a an option to weaken set grout. If there is flow in the under floor pipe i would try some warm water and a sack of sugar - followed by some pressure or emptying of a bath tub after some work time. This suggestion is not based on any experience - just a guess at what i would try.

phoenixAZ
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