Is a leaning sewer pipe exhaust/cleanout ok

Question

I bought a house about 2 years ago and before I bought it they found that the sewer line had problems. So the sellers had it fixed. The problem is that over the first year the ground resettled such that the vent/cleanout is no longer straight up and down (picture below). I finally got around to digging down to verify all was still attached properly but stopped at 3.5 feet deep and decided to open and measure it. It turns out it is 7 feet down so would require a lot more digging to get to that point. The whole reason I was digging was to verify it was fine and/or fix it before filling in the area that sunk over time. So now that it seems like a lot more work and wider hole I wanted to see if it requires the time/effort or if it is fine, and I should just finish up the lawn around it?

Answer 1

• Is it a problem that the cleanout leans, or in other words, is not perfectly plumb? No, not at all. It just needs to have downward slope and connect appropriately with the main line below.
• Does the leaning of the cleanout imply that its connection could be damaged? Not necessarily. A plumber and excavator may or may not go to any trouble to leave the cleanout plumb (or at any other specific angle).

If you have any concerns about the cleanout or the main line below have a camera inspection done. That'll reveal whether there are any joints that have separated, or bellies that have formed, due to the settling of the soil. Both the main line and the cleanout stub can be inspected.