We’ve had a few problems with our sewer line backing up since we moved into our house 3 years ago. I was able to clear most of the clogs by accessing the cleanout in the basement and snaking it, but we’ve had to call Roto-Rooter a couple times.
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We have a cast-iron line that runs right under a 40 year old tree in the front yard, and out to the sewer system. I would guess that we have a fair amount of roots growing into the sewer line from our tree. The tree is about 40†in diameter and 40’ tall, positioned half way between the house and the street. A few people have suggested having a cleanout added to the sewer line at the street, so that if the line needed to be cleaned out by the pro’s, they could do it outside and not have to charge us extra to lug their machines into the basement.
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My questions:
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- Would adding a clean out be worth it? I haven’t gotten any estimates yet, but I’m guessing it would probably run a couple thousand dollars.
- Would a cleanout be able to be added without removing the tree in the front yard?
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Thanks for the advice!
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Trevor
Replies
Should you add a cleanout, be prepared to replace all or at least a large portion of the existing waste line. You are likely to damage areas already tenuously fragile.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
Is the drain line out in the yard cast iron or clay tile? If you have had to call several times to have roots cut out of the drain line, it's time for something else, like replacement or relining.
is your sewer line in the middle of the wall where it heads out?or down on the floor? if it's in the wall then as it goes outside it's only a couple feet deep. now around here the cast iron goes out of the house about 3 feet then transitions to something else- plastic [which you probably don't have]clay tile, some stuff called orangeberg etc.. then goes on out to the main. here what you do is dig down to the sewer 3' or so from the house,you literly knock a hole in the pipe about 3" around. then you set a 4" plastic riser ,long enough to stick out of the ground 6". the mix up some real dry cement and pack the joint between the sewer and riser. let dry up a little and fill the dirt back in.
if it is down at the basement floor i would just bite the bullet and start looking at sewer replacement. they can actually pull a new sewer threw the old one and not even have to dig.
you might look at products that you pour down your lines every 3 months to help with the root problem. and make sure that no one is throwing tampons down the toilet, i had a tennant ,single guy and about every 3 months were cleaning the sewer thats stopped up with tampons.he had company from out of town stay and she was flushing them. oh and the flushable bowl cleaners,sewer guys think there great for bussiness.larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Here's my 2 cents on that. Old house I bought had a plastic 3" sticking up just above grade with a loose cap on it. Always wondered why that was done until one day the cap was off and I noticed that the water level was halfway up the pipe. Washing machine discharge had pushed it off. The cleanout was in the crawlspace at the bottom of an ell under the WC and was buried about 2 feet. That plastic pipe made snaking easy. Hired a 50 foot one from HD. (Not sure if I could have got the 100 foot one down and then turn it horizontal). It turned out to be tree roots too.
The great thing though is if that plastic pipe had not been there the WC would have overflowed as the next lowest fitting open to the air.
David
If you have roots, you have problems with either the joints or the pipes themselves. Adding a cleanout would make the snake job easier, but it won't make it any less frequent. Also, the problem will likely get worse as the roots (and snaking) continue to damage the pipe. Because the line goes under a large tree (that you probably want to save), you might want to look into lining the sewer. I have no experience with this process, but I'd look into it if I wuz in your shoes. Here's one site showing the system:
http://www.linkpipe.com/drain.htm
Maybe someone who as some experience with lining will pipe up. (I didn't mean to say that.)
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
“Is the drain line out in the yard cast iron or clay tile?”
I think the drain line in the yard is cast iron, but don’t quote me on it.
“If you have had to call several times to have roots cut out of the drain line, it's time for something else, like replacement or relining”
So far the clogs have been located in the house, before the line heads out to the city sewer. I can see thin roots in the line when I look down into the cleanout in the basement. My guess is that TP is getting hung up on the roots, which causes everything else to back up.
“is your sewer line in the middle of the wall where it heads out?or down on the floor?”
It’s in the floor. The main stack come down from the bathrooms, threw the floor to a floor drain, then to a clean out, then out to the street.
“oh and the flushable bowl cleaners,sewer guys think there great for bussiness.”
I’ve already banned the wife from using these. They were the cause of one of our backups! J
“If you have roots, you have problems with either the joints or the pipes themselves. Adding a cleanout would make the snake job easier, but it won't make it any less frequent. Also, the problem will likely get worse as the roots (and snaking) continue to damage the pipe.”
I was afraid you were going to say that.
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Guess I’m going to have to transfer money from my tool fund to the new sewer repair fund.
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Thanks everyone for the info!
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Trevor
"Guess I’m going to have to transfer money from my tool fund to the new sewer repair fund."
Er, . . I take it all back! Just flush an M-80 every week or so, and you're good to go! ; -)
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Since I don't clean the toilets here <g> I'm not sure what this product is. You're talking about a 'liquid' that clogs the pipes??
I had the same problem and solved it by using this once a year. First I had Roto-Rooter come with the camera and high pressure cutting head that uses pressurized water to cut out all the roots and clean the lines. Following this, I used this product once a year : http://www.roebic.com/septic/rp.htm
the cost for roto- 300, cost for the chemicals.. 8.00..
the cost for replacing or relining the sewer? over $100/ foot the relining may be easier but is just as costly as replacing the sewer line..
"Guess I’m going to have to transfer money from my tool fund to the new sewer repair fund."
No need to use your tool fund for anything except bigger tools - you now have the best of both worlds, an excuse to buy your very own backhoe and DIY your new sewer!!!
A backhoe sounds good to me, but I think the Mrs. might have another opinion. J
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UPDATE:
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I decided to crack open my cleanout last night and see if I could figure out where the blockage was in the line. I found that water would drain fine out of the house, but once it got past the clean out it was getting backed up. At this point I knew I’d need to call a plumber and have them snake the line. They came out this morning with the heavy duty machine and snaked the line 100’ out. When they reeled the snake back in they had a fair amount of roots on the end of the cutter head. Then they ran it out one more time to make sure they got everything…cutter head came back clean. The plumber said I had cast iron pipe to about 5’ outside the house, then it transitioned to terracotta pipe. He said the pipe was in pretty good shape and didn’t warrant being replaced. He said as long as I use Root-X, 2-3 times a year, the root growth should stay fairly under control.
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Thanks again for everyone’s help!
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Trevor
The roots themselves inside the line are one thing, and maybe you have that licked, but a clay line will eventually collapse, leading to a blockage that cannot be roto-rooted. The rooter guy may be honest or he may want your continued business, who knows. I would talk to a couple of outfits that do trenchless sewer replacement and get some info and price quotes. When the eventual failure occurs you will need them to do the job on an emergency basis, and they'll have you over a barrel. You may be able to get someone to run a sewer camera down there as part of giving you a price. This type of thing warrants a pre-emptive strike IMO.
I don't think TP is your problem. I don't know who lives under your roof or their lifestyles but I would be much more concerned about other thinks going down the drain. That might include bacon fat/cooking oil, hair, feminine protection products, latex, paper towel. If you have tots in the house they love to watch all kinds of stuff "disappear". TP actually breaks up pretty easily. Good luck.
> He said the pipe was in pretty good shape and didn’t warrant being replaced.
That may be a good educated guess. But 100 ft. out, perhaps better to get somebody with one of those camera systems to look at it. That way you really know for sure, and can make the right decision.
-- J.S.