Fully rented St Louis multifamily investment .... lateral sewer problem (Investor nightmare)

Breaking the concrete and excavating for new lateral sewer line

Basement preparation to reach the lateral sewer line.

This project started with a thought ... well that's wierd.

Recently I had been spending alot of time at this location (St Louis multifamily investment). I converted the floor plan of the one of the first floor apartments into a modern useable foot print. Not to digress ... Understandably I spent many hours on site. After a few of those hours (in particular heavy rain storms), I would end up making my way into the unfinished basement for some unrelated reason. Specifically I was storing disassembled trim, doors, door frames, baseboard, original lumber, etc.

While there I noticed water marks and wet items in areas that would traditionally not get wet. My orginal assessment was the exterior floor drain of the exterior stairwell was clogged and subsequently the overflow was making its way into the basement and overwhelming the floor drains. I secured that assessment in my memory and went about completing the floor plan change.

Post completion, I utilized a motorized auger and shopvac to clear and clean the drain lines. Testing of the drains revealed open and flowing as designed! I fixed it! Great feeling.

The next week shortly after a heavy rainfall I was applying the seasonal insect treatment in the building. I started in the basement in question. I opened the basement door to a clear water pool in the basement! Shocked, I look at both drains. Both were in the state in which I left them, unobstructed. I decidend to complete my original treatment task and return to the basement once completed.

Upon return, the water was completely gone, but the telltale signs I had observed before were present. Knowing I had already deployed my solution, I arranged for a lateral sewer line camera inspection.

The video inspection day arrived, I had advised the technician of my observations. During the video inspection we attempted to duplicate the circumstance. Here in Saint Louis, MO, particularly in the city of Saint Louis, these older buildings collect all the rain water from the roof of the structure and send it into the subterranean sewer system. The downspouts are directly connected to the lateral sewer lines. Accordingly in an effort to duplicate the issue, I placed a water hose in the down spout connection for the gutter.

We were successful in duplicating the backup. An obstruction was at the wye connection where the gutter connected to the main, diverting the water up stream and into the basement! The obstruction was cleared and the unobstructed water flow was returned. However....

During the video inspection of the lateral sewer line three separate locations were observed where the cast iron lateral sewer line 'ceiling' had collapsed. Ignoring this condition was not an option as we were operating on borrowed time. I often look at circumstances like these and try to understand what is being transmitted to me. The message I received was 'this lateral will fail in the near future, do something with this knowledge, or operate under emergency conditions when the line fails.'

So here we are ... changing a lateral sewer line in a fully occupied building - NOT fun. But I am happy to have navigated this condition. I have fully advised the tenants and given them adequate notice. It is my belieft that these actions pay dividens in the future. No just financial, but social ones too.

Pay attention to the conditions you observe. Somehow a message is being related to you, are you conscious enough to receive it?