Peeeeewwwww

[Katcars]

Two baths upstairs...one down.

Several months ago, as one upstairs bathtub was draining...a foul odor and yucky muck stuff began coming up through the master (upstairs) shower drain.
It was checked by a ding dong who said that everything was draining thru same pipe and he needed to add another drain...which he did, I suppose although it is draining just under the deck and by the backsteps. However, he did locate and open up septic tank (not the slab but the opening) which he left open for days. I put bricks over it to keep debris out and reported it to LL who either himself or had someone come shovel dirt over the opening.

The original problem never went away completely...altho there has always been a faint odor from master bath..it has gotten so much worse now and we cannot use either bathtub or shower upstairs. Toilets, we can use. Any time we try to use the bathtub..as it drains..it comes back up in the master shower and it reeks to high heaven. Yucky muck is comes up, as well. Both upstairs drains are very slow, too. My question is ..is this a plumbing issue or a septic tank issue? What could or is the problem? I need to address this immediately as i fear it is becoming a health hazard!

Thanks for any help,

KAt

[AllanJ]

Since the downstairs drains including the kitchen sink are not affected, the problem is upstairs (or at least five feet above the downstairs floor level. It's in a common pipe that the upstairs shower and the upstairs bathtub share.

Probably some foreign object that went down the drain by accident, or an accumulation of hair.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a shared drain pipe coming down from the second floor, although building codes may dictate how far down the bathtub drain pipe and the toilet drain pipe may join together.

It is usually easier to snake bathtub drain pipes by undoing the stopper lever and stopper plunger and inserting the snake there instead of down the drain itself. Still it can be tricky if the snake goes from the bathtub horizontally over to the shower (and vice versa) missing a clog in a common drain pipe that meets vertically as the middle of a T joint.

When using a hand cranked snake, listen to be sure the far end is always rotating. Should the far end hang up, it's probably time to pull out the snake to see what you got. Or pull back a little and when the far end resumes rotating, try to speed up the cranking and apply a little pressure again. Do not keep cranking and winding up the spring to eventually make the far end suddenly burst through the clog like a rubber band airplane propeller. Instead you will deform the snake making the snake much more difficult to use for the next job.

Nothing to do with the septic system.

[Katcars]

Thank you so very much!! This was bedcoming a nightmare. Just goes to show tho...some plumbers aren't worth a plunger. We have had them out here numerous times.

Now,we think we can correct this problem. Thanks again!

Kat