I'm in the process of buying a condominium, and the Condo Association
has an agreement with the city of Seattle stating that "the city of
Seattle is not responsible for damages due to the nonstandard
connection with a side sewer".
I recently saw this question on JudysBook:
http://seattle.judysbook.com/questions/q-839/Has_anyone_had_a_side_sewer_replaced_or_repared.htm

and, I realized that apparently side sewers are somewhat common.

So, what is a side sewer?  What makes it different from normal sewers,
and what are typical problems that arise from side sewer connections?

Thanks in advance

Howdy davenaff-ga,

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This Central Contra Costa Sanitary District web page with their "APPLICANT'S
GUIDE TO PROCEDURES FOR SIDE SEWERS" defines a "side sewer" as well as other
sewer terms quite nicely.
http://www.centralsan.org/sewersystem/seweralteration.html

" ... The side sewer begins at and includes the connection to the public
sewer and terminates at the point of connection to the building plumbing
system usually two feet outside the foundation line or building wall. 'Side
sewer' includes the lateral sewer and the house sewer.

'Lateral sewer' is that portion of the side sewer which is within the public
right-of-way or District easement.

'House sewer' is that portion of the side sewer from the lateral sewer
to its connection to the building plumbing system."

So, a side sewer is considered to be that part of the sewer system that goes
from the main city sewer system, usually under the street, up to, and then
going into the building in question.

The "nonstandard" connection the city mentions is most probably that point
wherein the building's side sewer connects to the main city sewer.  It could
also mean that nonstandard angles are used in the side sewer, etc.

The side sewer, really just a pipe, could be a vitrified clay pipe (VCP)
which is extruded clay fired at high temperatures, concrete, cast iron pipe
(CIP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC aka "plastic" or "vinyl") etc.

From a materials viewpoint, a side sewer is not all that different from a
"normal" sewer, except main sewers are usually concrete or CIP, one of
these being the likely material that composes the building's side sewer.

The most typical problem is that the pipe cracks, breaks or corrodes, in
other words, fails in some manner.  That means the sewage from the building
would go someplace, such as into the soil, or basement, etc. instead of into
the main sewer.  Furthermore, there is some type of "nonstandard" connection
of the building's side sewer into probably the main sewer, and that might
a potential point of failure.

All of the above said, you could just ask the building management if and/or
when the side sewer has had to be worked on.  If it is a cast iron or concrete
pipe, it would not be surprising if there was never a problem, not even with
the connection to the main sewer.

As a bonus, if you can read diagrams, here is one of a standing side sewer
connection from the state of Washington.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/eesc/design/designstandards/english/pdf/b30_eng.pdf

If you need any clarification, please feel free to ask.


Search strategy:

Personal experience of my VCP side sewer collapsing from tree root invasion.

Google search on: "side sewer"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22side+sewer%22

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

Thorough answer.  Well done.

If a side sewer breaks, the sewerage from the building may not be the
only problem, especially if the main sewer also collects rain water,
which in a real downpour could cause the flow from there to rise in
the side sewer with greater pressure than what come from the house
(usually at intervals and only by the tub-full. A minor break may go
unnoticed from this flow, but the other could increase the damage and
...

Another problem that the city wants to avoid responsibility for:  
Depending on the terrain, the pressure from a downpour could back up
into the house.  Phew!
This could be the case if the main sewer is flowing from higher ground
"up stream" of the building.  Where this can be a risk, or perhaps
everywhere, the "standard connection" should include a back-flow valve
to prevent this.

I am pretty far from Seattle, but I hope the construction people there
also know about such things.

Myoarin

Much thanks for the kind comment and the 5 star rating, davenaff-ga.

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher