So, I own a very old house in the Independence Park neighborhood of Chicago. 1914 to be exact. When Julie and I purchased it in June of 08, we knew we were taking on a lot of work. In the past 6 months we have done some pretty extensive renovations, but there are at least a thousand more projects to go. Our most recent catastrophe though, was totally out of our hands.
Julie, Fiona and I spent Christmas in St. Louis this year. After a long relaxing week we came home to about 15 inches of water in our basement. Fun stuff. Without even unloading the car, I took Julie and Fiona to my parents and came back to pump out the water. After having a Plumbing and Sewer contractor out to rout out our sewer line, they reccomended that we install a "Clean Out" in the front yard that would both repair the shifted line as well as give them better access to rout the line in the future. After I agreed and wrote a check for $1400, we thought we were on our way.
The City of Chicago. Now, The City of Chicago was busy this week. So, it's understandable that it took them three days to get out to my house with a crew to inspect the large sink hole that was beginning to appear in my parkway. Since I had left a couple(5) messages at 311, truck after truck began to appear at my house on day three of this issue. Everyone of these very nice Water Department workers reccomended that I cancel our work with the sewer company and schedule the City to come out an inspect our line. If it's there problem, apparently they will fix it, free of charge. So, cancel we did and the inspector came out. It turns out that the issue is the Citys problem and they are scheduling a crew to come out and dig up my front lawn. Lucky me. But, the cost is on the city. If you have a problem with your sewer line, I would say it's definitely worth the money for the inspection, if for no other reason than to keep your contractor honest.
City of Chicago Private Drain Program. The following is taken from the www.cityofchicago.org
Private Drains
This program is designed to help alleviate the financial burden homeowners incur when a sewer repair is required in the public way. Typically, homeowners could expect to pay between $5,000 and $10,000 for these types of repairs. Now, the City of Chicago will be responsible for repairs to your private sewer drain in the parkway and in the street.
Contained in this brochure is information about your responsibility as a homeowner and the City's responsibility under this new program. It will also tell you the process you must follow to access the program and provide answers to the general questions you may have.
The Private Drain Program is part of our continuing effort to provide value-added services to our customers. We hope you will take advantage of this new program. For more information about this program or if you have any comments or questions, please call the City's non-emergency number 311.
The key points of the program are:
Program: The Department of Water Management will take over repairs of private drains from the main sewer to the property line effective January 1, 2002.
Procedure: Homeowner calls 311 and refers to the Private Drain Program.
Program: Includes residential properties up to and including four units.
Procedure: A Department of Water Management crew is dispatched to investigate.
Program: Maintenance and rodding of the private drain will remain the responsibility of the homeowner.
Procedure: The crew informs the homeowner whether the problem is in the main sewer or in the private drain.
Program: The program will save the average homeowner between $5,000 and $10,000 in repairs.
Procedure: If the problem is in the private drain, it is recommended that the homeowner hire a city licensed sewer contractor.
• The contractor hired must call the Department of Water Management Permit Section at (312) 744-3155 to obtain a permit to rod and videotape the private drain.
• The contractor would then call the Inspections Section at (312) 744-5503 to schedule an appointment with a house drain inspector to be present for the rodding and taping of private drain line.
• The contractor must provide videotape of private drain line to the house inspector.
• If the line can be opened by rodding, no Department of Water Management action will be taken.
• If the line cannot be opened by rodding, then the sewer contractor and the Department of Water Management inspector determines if the break is on private property or in the public way.
• If the break is on private property, the homeowner must hire a city licensed sewer contractor to repair the private drain line.
• If the break is in the public way, the Department of Water Management will repair the private drain line
So, basically, the guy's at the City of Chicago Water Department saved me $2800.00. Credit where credit is due. Thank you guys! Now, when are you coming out to fix the problem... More to come....
Joe Burke
Your Chicago Mortgage Guy
joe@yourchicagomortgageguy.com
773-742-6707
