Plumbing – Will a new vent resolve pressure evacuation of the drain traps

When drain water from one fixture comes back out another fixture, it means your blockage is beyond the point where those drains meet.

You need to get a good look at the topology of your waste plumbing, to get some ideas about where the blockage is. Clothes washer -> bathtub is a common symptom, because the clothes washer drains a lot of water up high (it has a pump) and the tub drain is down low.

Snaking down a drain is really hard, because of all the curves of the P-trap. If you're lucky, you have a clean-out somewhere, like under the house or behind a wall. Otherwise, you can try removing a P-trap to get the snake in, or removing a toilet. Removing a toilet is not very hard, but can be daunting.

We had a similar problem in this house. There were a few clean-outs accessible in the crawlspace, and our landlord used a hand-held snake in them, but didn't have much luck.

They hired a professional plumber. He pulled a toilet out and ran a huge snake down the drain (not one of the handheld units, but a huge, loud, floor-standing model heavy-duty cable). After running all 75' out, he borrowed another snake from his colleague, for 150' of snaking. This is a single-story house, on a 50'-wide lot, so the snake was well in to the street!

He said he pulled out a lot of roots. This is apparently common in older plumbing. They develop a small leak, and nearby plants grow after the nutrient-rich water, and find their way in to the pipe. It took him about 4 hours.

Plumbing is simple. There aren't a lot of rules to follow. Everything works in obvious ways. You don't need a lot of expensive, complicated tools, and if you do need something big, you can rent it. Anyone can fix plumbing.

But it can also be unpleasant. Screw-on connections may be rusted in place - hacksawing is often easier. There's the spectre of old poop and hair. Things may be difficult to reach - in a cabinet behind a sink basin or in a muddy crawlspace full of rat droppings.

If the job takes a few days, and you're unaccustomed to living without plumbing, it can be a trying time. Especially if there's a whole family in the house, and they aren't sympathetic. A pro will get the job done much faster, since they arrive with the right tools, parts, and experience.

There's a lot of instructions out there, on the internet, at the library, at the hardware store. If you decide to get your feet wet (get it? ha ha) then you will be able to find the information you need.

As DMoore suggested, running below slab is a viable option. Are you sure there are no lines running under the slab that may be closer?

The sink does need to be vented. Ideally, it should run up to an existing vent pipe that continues up through the roof. Some jurisdictions allow a mechanical vent which can be simply hidden in the wall, though the mechanical portion should be accessible for service and repair.

The drain slope is measured from the trap's outlet "invert", the lowest inside portion of the outlet pipe. Since pipe walls are parallel, you can actually measure the slope at any convenient surface, but for calculating if you have enough drop, use the invert. To tie into existing pipe, cut out a section and install a Wye or long turn Tee fitting. If none of the pipes can be moved to enable slipping into the hubs, the pipe can be cut farther up to enable gluing the fitting, then the butt ends are connected with a no-hub coupler.

As long as the pipes are waste pipes and not vents or something else, yes you can tie into them.

You should avoid pumps. But FYI, they are typically sort of a trash can with a pump inside. It could be placed on the floor in the storage room and the sink can easily drain into it. Such devices do get more complicated with floor level drains such as showers and toilets, but in your case, it's simple.