Plumbing Update

So, the saga of our house continues. We are on hold right now for the construction downstairs to start (to rebuild everything they tore down)...for 1-2 weeks. So we decided to get the plumber out here to fix the problem that started this whole mess. Yesterday, he came out and replaced the whole pipe and I paid him $1,610. Can I just say, it's hard not to hate the fix N' flippers. The plumber told us when he took off the toilet in our upstairs guest bathroom (to get access to the pipe), he found that they had installed that toilet onto rotten wood and flooring and there was a big gap. So they basically secured the toilet to the pipe itself and nothing else. Great! So the plumber took out the rotten wood and secured it better with a big block of wood. He was amazed water didn't leak to the basement before. The new pipe looks MUCH better!
I also told him that our bathtub downstairs had backed up with sewage like 3 or 4 times. So he thought we should "scope" the pipes below it with a camera to see if there were roots or blockages. So we did that at 9am this morning and Nate stayed home from work in the morning. I'm so glad he did because we found a big problem! The scope showed that not only are there some roots, but that the pipes almost out to the street were "shifted" from one another, so the upper pipe was sinking into the ground and not lining up with the female pipe. This problem would only get worse and worse over the next 2-3 years and eventually cause another major back up and we'd have the same type of flood again and probably worse. So this was a "must-be-fixed" problem. If it is in the city street below concrete, it is automatically at least $7,600. Guess how short we came up from the street? Any guesses?
Just 3 feet! So we almost had a HUGE bill. But God took care of us on this one. So it's in our front yard, and they need to dig down and replace/fix the pipe. They are also going to pressure wash the inside of the pipes because there was a lot of corrosion. So the total bill we agree'd to is $4,190. So once again, we are getting a major hit on our savings. This has been so much fun. Doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere anytime soon. Time to save again. : )
They are fixing that problem tomorrow 9/2/11.