Questions for the plumbing gurus

[Enigmatic]

Everything on this part of the sewer line is tied in together.
Let me explain that further.

The kitchen drain is on the backside of the bathroom. They share a wet wall.
The toilet is the last thing in line on this part.
The toilet still flushes like it always did. So I know there's no major obstruction in the 4" CI line, or the main vent stack at that point.
Between the shower stall (first thing in line) and the toilet, something is blocking the vent pipe & drain line.
The kitchen drain is backing up into the shower stall, and we have to pump it into the toilet.

I'm hoping it's a simple fix, like cutting between the horizontal vent line inside the wall & the vent stack that goes thru the roof.
I took out the medicine cabinet, and the horizontal vent line runs right behind it.
That's the one thing the 2nd guy said he was hoping for.
So, fingers crossed, maybe it can be fixed easily.

I was already quoted a nose bleed expensive price for replacing the entire sewer line thru the house
& out to the street. Which I hope doesn't need doing.
It would be cheaper to put in a septic tank.

[EatenByLimestone]

Does the shower drain fine when it's used?

[Enigmatic]

Problem solved. The 2nd guy came back today & literally tore the pipes apart to find out what was blocking them.
The vent lines themselves were clogged with all kinds of nasty stuff. He had to use a cutter head to get the crap out of the vent lines
so air could flow in them again. There was literally 2- 5 gallon buckets full of crap that came out of those pipes.
The main drain lines were clogged with carbonized grease. The grease was so old, it turned to charcoal.
The plumber had to cut out about 20' of old CI pipe, and it was solid inside.
It looked like coal you burn in an old stove or something.
Hard as a rock, literally.

It was pretty disgusting, all in all.
I asked him what he thought caused the pipe to stop working all of a sudden & he said it was probably a chunk of
that solid rock hard grease broke off & blocked the pipe from draining.
He said he's never seen old grease so bad in any pipe & he's been doing it for 35 years.

Good part of all this is I only got hit for $800 for all the work he did. He spent a total of 30 man hours figuring it out.
Thank God it's over with now. My wife was driving me crazy bugging me about not using the dishwasher or sink or anything else.
Everything works better than it ever did since we bought this old dump 15 years ago.

Jeebus I got a headache.

[DieselDennis]

I feel your pain. People say not having any water is bad. That ain't nothing. You can buy water and haul it in.

Try having water, but not having a drain. That actually sucks. My wife hauled the dirty dishes to the neighbor's one holiday when our drain pump got went. I offered to take the traps apart and put a bucket underneath the sink, but she didn't take me up on that idea.

[Enigmatic]

I feel your pain.  People say not having any water is bad.  That ain't nothing.  You can buy water and haul it in.  

Try having water, but not having a drain.  That actually sucks.  My wife hauled the dirty dishes to the neighbor's one holiday when our drain pump got went.  I offered to take the traps apart and put a bucket underneath the sink, but she didn't take me up on that idea.

My Grandma lived in the middle of nowhere in Ga. She had a kitchen sink that drained out thru the floor & over to a cesspool behind her house.
She never once complained about a clogged drain.

[EatenByLimestone]

Awesome! Glad your problem is solved! Cheap plumber too!