Harris Water Main & Sewer Contractors received a call early Wednesday morning after a homeowner in NYC was no longer able to use any running water in the house without the water backing up into the basement. They first became aware of the issue when they noticed a bad odor leading them to the sewage filled basement and were completely baffled as to how this could happen when they had replaced the sewer line five years prior.
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A representative from Harris arrived onsite when he noticed recent utility work completed in-front of the house. He reviewed all details with the homeowner, confirmed a five year old sewer line is considered brand new and became aware that the utility company attempted to install a new utility pole before relocating it several feet away. He was quick to conclude that the utility company had broken the homeowners sewer line, the pipe was 4.5′ deep on the sidewalk which clearly got in the way of the pole installation. An exploratory excavation process now had to be performed to turn the Harris reps professional opinion into factual information.
A Harris sewer repair crew was dispatched to make a same day repair as the hole was especially dangerous in a neighborhood full of young children playing outside. The excavation process began on the sidewalk when they noticed that the pipe had been damaged from the sidewalk to 8′ in the street which required them to open the roadway in addition to the sidewalk. The sewer crew was able to reach the sewer pipe within 90 minutes of excavation and quickly confirmed that the attempted utility pole installation was the only reason that the sewer pipe had been damaged.
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The crew now had to replace a total of 15’ of pipe in preparation for the DEP inspector to review that the sewer repair complied with DEP plumbing requirements. The 15’ of pipe was successfully installed and passed DEP inspection before the soil was compacted with a tampering machine in preparation for the sidewalk and roadway to be permanently restored the following day.
Harris Water Main and Sewer Contractors was able to respond to an emergency and potentially dangerous situation in NYC, provide the homeowner with written and visual documentation to support the homeowners claim with the utility company and complete the job within one day.
