Replacing old cast iron drain pipes

Huge issue all over the country. Insurance does not pay for this. It’s an inherent flaw

Lots of older commercial buildings are going through this and it’s massively expensive

It may be possible, depending on your policy language, that the repairs may be partially covered. If you had water damage due to the collapsed lines, your policy may cover the water damage plus possibly cover the cost to access the collapsed lines, but not the cost of the replacement of the lines.

They must have changed in the last 20 years. My brothers had pipe hangers break and the insurance paid to tunnel and replace.

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Discovered last week, after a plumbing issue, that the cast iron drain pipes original to the home were mostly destroyed due to age and modern chemicals. We dug out and tunneled under the slab to a portion of it and there’s no bottom left of them.

Has anyone had luck with homeowner insurance on something like this? Allstate is essentially denying the claim.

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Insurance will not cover plumbing repairs but will cover damage done as a result of plumbing failures unless they know you knew about it and did not address it.

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Not many plumbers are going to break through a house slab for this type repair especially if an old cast iron sewer line. Pretty much the whole run should be replaced with PVC

This would require tunneling under the slab to allow the plumber to get under the slab to remove the pipe and then replace as needed with new hangers and the proper pitch for the drainage to work right.

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I've got one doing it right now.

started with a washer drain line backfilling. this is the drain line for the washer, dishwasher and sink, that all come together and ties into the rest of the plumbing in the house. I looked at the disclosure docs from the closing and it looks like a good portion was replaced on the side of the house with the showers and toilets along with the sewer main connecting to the city. We sent a snake down there a day or two later after not using the washer, dish washer or sink and discovered the bottom of these pipes were completely gone.

The plumber cut a section of the patio out and hired some guys that do specifically this. They have tunneled under the slab ~20' found more bad pipe and have tunneled from a different area without breaking and concrete another ~20'

It's all got to go. If I leave it alone at this point its just going to get worse,

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I am trying to figure out if the previous owner knew about this existing condition

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99% certain that the previous owner knew.

99.999% certain you'll never get them to pay.

Once bought a home where the prick owners moved an enormous shelf full of books in front of the water heater access so the inspector couldn't see that they were rusting out. Gut stuck replacing two units right after I moved in.

An attorney buddy told me I'd never be able to prove anything.

ETA:

Be careful should you seek legal help. The sleazier the attorney, the more likely he is to suggest litigation.

this is what scares the hell out of me with building on a slab

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this is what scares the hell out of me with building on a slab

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Properly designed PVC and ABS drains rarely have problems unless you live in a place like Houston with unstable soil that cracks the slab.