A good sewer clean out is installed as close to the house as possible, which some plumber did back in 1989. Where he went wrong was to install it 12" below ground level and then put the stairs back over it.
I found the old clean out after selling the new homeowner on installing a clean out in order to clear the whole house sewer stoppage. Turns out the stoppage was at the joint the other plumber installed for his clean out.
All is good now. I did use the old clean out to clear the stoppage and installed the new clean out above ground level in front of the steps.
Got eaten alive by mosquitoes, too. I got 12 huge bumps on my arms from the li'l vampires.
