Just Nasty

[OkieBill]

Looking for some advice on how to handle this guys, ( I have never seen or smelled one this bad).


Owner calls me and says his neighbors are telling him his house stinks, I about fall over from the smell from the time he opens the door...

(Older Owner has no sense of smell)


3" Cast Iron line split apart in crawl space under kitchen. I had to cut in through Kitchen floor to get to the general area ( A remodel blocked access). I make the hole and stick my head under for a look and I find a lake 10'x10'x4" of a black syrup that smells of rotten death.:barf:

Neighbors see my truck and come over, Talking with them and the owner we guess this smell has been breeding for the last 2 years!

- I currently have 2 large commericial fans pulling Air through the crawlspace in an attempt to get this muck dry. ( It is stinking up the neighborhood)

- My thought is If I can get it to dry the smell will stop ( Maybe?)

- Chemical treatment? Lime, Enzyme, Bleach?

- Should the contaminated soil be removed from this little closed bioreactor? Suction Truck, Septic pumper

- This smell is unlike anything I have ever smelled before:eek: ( I have been plumbing for 14 years!)


Is there a normal course of action for something like this?

[gear junkie]

I would walk on this job. This did not happen overnight and I doubt any of his guests wouldn't mention the smell. The 100 bucks that you make on this job might make you so sick that you lose 1000 bucks tomorrow on the next job.

[gear junkie]

just forgot, health dept. might need to be notified on this one.

[DUNBAR]

Sounds like the guy buried his wife during the remodel, he's playing dumb to the fact she never came home from euchre that cold and blistery night. :eek::thisthreadisworthle

[OkieBill]

Will post the pics if ya want them...lol they are got good quality:-)

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/billkennedyplumbing/kaylor2.jpg



http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/billkennedyplumbing/kaylor.jpg

[wrench spinner]

scary thing is this isnt a new one for me. I had a customer about 10 years back similiar problem. ALL the waste had been run in soil tight pipe (no glue pvc very thin wall less than sdr35, isnt home depot great!) well anyway, I had the crawlspace pumped by a septic truck i dont remember how much but it was more than one truck load. then put a couple bags of lime down, before i would do the repair with ventilation, it is a confined space you know and unless you have training this entering this environment is not allowed by osha!

[gear junkie]

Getting off track here but by OSHA's standards, all crawlspaces are "confined spaces" and require a gas free engineer approval before entering. Can't say I've ever done this and I doubt few other plumbers have either.

[NHMaster3015]

And let's not forget all those mobile homes that the 3" rubber elbow fell off the waste so it's been dumping poo for 6 months and then they want you to crawl under there and fix it.

You know.... maybe there are some things a homeowner can do:D

[OkieBill]

On the OSHA thing....

Confined space:

"Any space with only one entrance and exit not designed for normal human habitation"

If I remember the lingo correctly from the classes years ago.

[OkieBill]

I just got a call from a guy who crawled under his house to shoot a skunk... He went in with a .410...:eek:

He got the skunk but did not get it out (stinks to bad)

Needless to say he has a few leaks...LMAO!:killingme:

People are great!

I'm hijacking my own thread!

[tinmack]

Dude....

RUN,

don't walk

away from this one..........

[DuckButter]

I'd charge handsomely, wear freaking body armor with a gas mask if you have to, and keep it all on the bill.
Let this guy know it won't be cheap, I highly doubt anyone will do that job for short money...these jobs are the reason we carry health insurance.

[Aaron91]

Good idea on taking pictures of the job, even if you don't take it on, pictures can be helpful if, for some reason this would go to court.

I myself carry a nice digital camera on me at all times while at work.

Back to the subject. Unless you really need the work, I'd run, as another member posted, away from this job.

Just to be safe, as Ben said, contact the health dept. and see what their recommendations are.

I'm guessing once you hear back from them, you'll decide it's just not worth it, by the time you deal with the health dept, pumping service, and then having to repair the problem.

Don't forget, even if it's all pumped up, there's still plenty of bacteria there.

Is there insulation down there?(I'm sure there is.) That would of course all need to be ripped out too.

This is no 2 hour job, by any means.

[TOPDAWG]

You need to call in a company like SERVPRO. They will take care of the cleanup and then you can fix the leak in a safe environment.

[Aaron91]

I was going to recommend the same company, but I thought they work in finished rooms, not crawl spaces?

[TOPDAWG]

I have a Uncle that owns a SERV-PRO in Ohio, They do all types of cleanup and if they don't have the equipment they know someone who will. The home owner should contact the insurance company because they will most likely pay for the clean up and damage caused by the leak but the repair of the piping will probably not be covered.

[Drain Medic]

Thats exactly what i would do, call Serv Pro. Have them clean out the space. Then your just going to have to go in there in and fix the problem. I wouldnt walk off the job. Your just going to lose it to someone else. Make sure you get good money for it thats all.

[All Clear Sewer]

I just did a job like that.
Good $$$$ or we walk ;)

It was the job I posted on the drain cleaning side of the forums "jetter Job freak out"

I`ll do em but they are gonna pay some big $$$$ or I walk.

We ran fans for over a week and still had to move dirt to cover the muck so we could get in there to do the repair.

[OkieBill]

Thanks for the great advice all!

The course of action as it stands right now:

- Owner to contact homeowners insurance company.

- I found a servpro franchise about an hour away from here to call
on monday ( Will recommend them to owner and adjuster).

- Get the mess cleaned up and I will make the fix once servpro and my nose give it the all clear:)

[Cuda]

I got to hand it to ServPro they get the bunk jobs, one of our houses in Seattle a little over a year ago was a major murder at a party where this guy just started blasting with a shotgun, he killed a lot of people at the keg. I went there said noway, weird thing was the house gave me bad vibes. They went in cleaned up all the stuff the coroner left. I went back 1/2 year later to fix some small stuff , Still hated the house.

[MPMGinAL]

Bio-Clean! Bio-Clean! Bio-Clean. May take time, but should do the trcik. Call the guys at statewide. If they think thier product is up for the challenge ask if they would give you enough for the experiment. If the nieghbors have dealt with it for 2 years, whats a couple more weeks.