My house has no plumbing vent!?

Question

My house was built in 1916. It is 1 floor only. Sometimes the toilet rises and drains slow and when I plunge the tub or sink gurgles. When you take a shower or do dishes or empty the washing machine, the toilet gurgles. When the toilet water rises and I plunge, it goes down very fast and the tub and sink gurgle. I paid a guy to come out and he immediately went to the basement and snaked the main and there were a few tiny roots and the pipe wasn't collapsed and he did not solve the problem. This problem goes away when I drain the washer because that is in the basement and seems to suck out whatever air is trapped that is causing the toilet to flush slow. BTW, the sinks and tub all drain fine - in fact, I have strong sucking whirlpools when they drain. The toilet gurgles though!

I have been on the roof; there are no vents. A better plumber is coming Thursday. Do you think it's still a clog? Worse after heavy rains and the city sewers are full. I live on Lake Erie.

No vents on roof.

Thanks Hill...and believe it or not, the plumber told me my current vent is my sink, LOL. There is NOTHING coming out of my roof but my fireplace chimney and my directtv dishes lol.

It is actually common over here to see old houses with no roof vents...and I am on Lake Erie but in Tonawanda, NY.

Thanks for the info on Sullivan. I will go to the website.

Here's my house
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x74/mrsjoesaj/109morgan2.jpg

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x74/mrsjoesaj/109morgan4.jpg

I never thought about the possibility that when they re-roofed in 1999 they cut a vent. If there is one going into there, you can see that the only exit is in the little vent in the front over my porch roof.

As you can see, I don't have an attic! My ceilings are 11 ft. inside and I don't even have a crawl space in a closet or anything to get into the very shallow part you would call an attic.

The house used to be in the back. In the 1950's, the woman wanted a basement so they dug one and moved the house to the front on top of it.

I love my house; it is a Sears catalog house. I hate the phantom toilet!

Thanks for the tip on the roof being the possible vent cover-up!

Answer 1

A plumbing vent is actually a pipe comming out of your roof. If you have plumbing, it's vented. Wait to see what the plumber has to say. In the meantime, you can checkout garrysullivanonline.com. Very helpful site. If you live on Lake Erie, chances are good that you can pick up 1100 am on the radio out of Cleveland. Gary Sullivan has a radio show on Saturday mornings from 9-12. He takes calls and answers questions like the one you have.

Answer 2

Not knowing your setup exactly, I will provide some information you might be able to use. To properly vent your current system may require that you install a complete plumbing system, which, if you are replacing plaster walls with Sheetrock walls, would be a reasonable solution. If not then building a loop system connected below the trap might be a solution for some of it, but again the walls. There is an approved vent that goes into the system after the trap on a pipe that is constructed higher than the highest water level. When water goes down the drain the reduced air pressure at the valve opened the valve and vents the drain. I wish I had some method of showing you the installation, but a local hardware store should not only carry these but should also be able to assist you with the design. These are the most "usual" methods used, but sometimes it just take some ingenuity.

Answer 3

check your attic. Sometimes when a house is reroofed, the roofers will cut off the vent pipe to make their job easier. The vent my be still be in your attic, not connected to the outside and jammed to the roof so it cannot work efficiently. If it is there, a roofer can get it through the roof.

Answer 4

Many older homes had the vent deadend into the attic. It is not proper and this will cause moisture and mold in the attic. It also allows sewer gases to build up in the attic and enter the rooms below.

Answer 5

660