sewer line

[strongry]

I have not had a problem, but several of my neighbors have had problems in recent years with roots growing into their sewer line that runs from the house to the street. They have dealt with backups in the basement, ruined things in the basement, etc. The problem seems to be that in front of everyone's house, in the easement, everyone has a large maple or similar tree. Anyway, like I said, I haven't had a problem, but I was wondering what sort of preventive action I could take to avoid similar problems (other than cutting down the tree).

 

[Finnegan]

You can have someone snake your pipe and see what, if anything, they come up with. If you have never had your sewer main snaked and it is clean, then you probably have nothing to worry about. You can also have them scope your pipe with a camera that will show you exactly what shape the pipe is in, but this is a bit more expensive. Though, sometimes peace of mind comes with a price. Also, before you cut the tree down, you may want to check with the town. Some towns, like mine, restricts trimming any tree in the easement area.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Lakee911]

Roots keep growing after tree is cut. Don't cut them. You'll miss them and not help a thing.

Jason

 

[Toolaholic]

what some people do

once a year run some copper sulfate down the drain. it,s at the hardware.

this year I did 5ft. of of lateral replacement on my own home. ROOT PROBLEMS i ran 1/2" pvc
pipe from both ferncoes to surface with removable caps. once each year i,ll
dump some c. sulfate in to kill roots.

 

[hj]

roots

Those are not your trees. They belong to the city and in some places you can be cited for removing them. Besides the roots will grow for decades even after the tree is gone.

 

[Lakee911]

once a year run some copper sulfate down the drain. it,s at the hardware.

this year I did 5ft. of of lateral replacement on my own home. ROOT PROBLEMS i ran 1/2" pvc
pipe from both ferncoes to surface with removable caps. once each year i,ll
dump some c. sulfate in to kill roots.

I read something similiar online, can't find teh site now though. Said to drive theh open ended pipe in the ground with some holes above your sewer pipe. Put cap on top and then every six months fill it with CuS and boiling water then let it leech out.

How deep was your lateral that you had to remove? Are ferncoes ok to be used unprotected in the earth? Curious to hear about your project.

Thanks
Jason

 

[strongry]

tree

Thanks for the input. Just to be clear though, I never was planning on cutting down the tree. I mentioned that I was looking for a solution that didn't involve cutting down the tree because I did not want to cut down the tree.