Yes. An exploding sewer pipe would be worse than a partially-collapsed one. The experience of being deluged in 100 gallons of sewage is one I'll gladly leave to the guys in Boston.

"All's well as ends well," as Grandpa used to say. The backhoe is busy tearing up the yard for the new line even as I write this. The city agreed to waive most of the $1500 tap-in fee they were going to charge when they discovered we had two bathrooms instead of the one that was in the house when it was first connected in the 1940s. The contractor promises we will be good to go (literally) by end of day tomorrow.

Thanks, very sincerely, for all the advice and the expressions of sympathy and concern from the Forum members who posted.

Frank2135

"...The city agreed to waive most of the $1500 tap-in fee..."

Wow, you are one lucky dude!!! Glad things will be flowing for you soon...

Interesting story. "Interesting," again, is being used in place of something a little stronger. What happened was the city sewer department wanted to treat it as a "new" tap-in because the usage was "increasing" according to their records, because of the "new" second bathroom. The contractor pointed out that we were not changing the size of the line or making any changes inside the house at all. I called the former owners and with their help was able to call the building department and find the records of the building permit issued for the second bathroom from the late 1970s. The contractor used that to argue that the sewer department's records were inaccurate, and they "settled" for $500.

I am NOT complaining, believe me.

Lessons learned all around.

I see that you have it under control. If you have a problem with roots, you can put in about a cup of salt a week and it should kill roots after short time.