State of RI
Briefly:
There was a gas leak detected on my property. The gas company that day and overnight dug at the street, the excavation was shaking my entire house to the point where dishes were loudly rattling. About 2 days later, the water backed up in cellar doing a large load of laundry. Plumbers came out and snaked it for 3 hours, they were hitting a solid blockage of clay and sand. Different plumber excavated today and pulled out a house trap he said was broken prior to excavation, it was packed with sand and clay.
These are old pipes and infrastructure under city streets, dating to early 1900's. There are sewer tunnels 20 feet down made of brick and these sewer pipes are made of cast iron on my end and clay in some parts. The excavation was about 25 feet from house, and the area is sandy. The water/gas/sewer lines are are intersecting at various levels. We have owned this property for 25 years, and we have never had a sewer issue of any sort. Both plumbers are saying they believe it a result of the vibration of the excavation.
I have already filed a claim directly with the utility company and my homeowners insurance. I had initially believed it may just have been a crappy(Ha!) coincidence, but I now 100% believe it the result of the excavation they did. At this point the utility company is investigating and waiting on my home insurance to dictate whether they deal with me directly or not.
How do I go about "proving" this was their fault? I have two plumbers saying they think so, I think so, the trap they pulled is packed solid with dirt and was broken....all when we had no issue until 48-72 hours after they dug. We had showered and flushed toilets in that time, but it is a 35 foot run to the blockage and it drains slowly, so it was not detected until we did a large load of laundry.
Thanks
Briefly:
There was a gas leak detected on my property. The gas company that day and overnight dug at the street, the excavation was shaking my entire house to the point where dishes were loudly rattling. About 2 days later, the water backed up in cellar doing a large load of laundry. Plumbers came out and snaked it for 3 hours, they were hitting a solid blockage of clay and sand. Different plumber excavated today and pulled out a house trap he said was broken prior to excavation, it was packed with sand and clay.
These are old pipes and infrastructure under city streets, dating to early 1900's. There are sewer tunnels 20 feet down made of brick and these sewer pipes are made of cast iron on my end and clay in some parts. The excavation was about 25 feet from house, and the area is sandy. The water/gas/sewer lines are are intersecting at various levels. We have owned this property for 25 years, and we have never had a sewer issue of any sort. Both plumbers are saying they believe it a result of the vibration of the excavation.
I have already filed a claim directly with the utility company and my homeowners insurance. I had initially believed it may just have been a crappy(Ha!) coincidence, but I now 100% believe it the result of the excavation they did. At this point the utility company is investigating and waiting on my home insurance to dictate whether they deal with me directly or not.
How do I go about "proving" this was their fault? I have two plumbers saying they think so, I think so, the trap they pulled is packed solid with dirt and was broken....all when we had no issue until 48-72 hours after they dug. We had showered and flushed toilets in that time, but it is a 35 foot run to the blockage and it drains slowly, so it was not detected until we did a large load of laundry.
Thanks