Roots in sewer line, insurance, and price.?

Question

I moved into a house Saturday that I just bought and discovered my sewer line drains real slow and upon snaking it discovered roots in it. I called my insurance (first house, didn't know) and of course it's not covered. I know my options are yearly augering and chemicals or total repair. Clearly, first house, I'm hardcore broke. My boyfriend wants to rent an industiral snake and do it ourselves. I'm scared though we have busted pipes and if it bursts and damages the house insurance won't pay a penny because they knew I knew there was a problem. I would hate to repair, but don't want to put an 300 dollar bank aid on it via roto rooter every year.

If this were your house what would you do?

Answer 1

Roots in the line mean that you have a peforation in your lateral at some point. Snaking it out, whether by Professional Drain cleaners or renting the equipment yourself is only a stop gap measure, meaning you will continue to throw money at it forever. I recommend getting it scoped - meaning get the pipe camera down there to find out what and where the extent of the damage is. Then get 3 seperate bids to repair or replace a section of or the entire sewer lateral. With roots you will eventually have to dig up and replace the broken section. Better to bite the bullet and do it now than to have to pay Roto-Rooter to come in the middle of the night or in the middle of your party to punch through the roots again.

Will - Plumber CA

Answer 2

I would rotor it and then use the chemicals. Depending on how the sewer line is run from the street and how long the run is to the house, it could cost thousands to replace.

If you keep up with the anti root chemicals after the sewer line is cleared, you may not have a problem thereafter except maybe during times of serious drought.

Even so, if you were hell bent to replace the line, then roto it out now and that will buy you time so you can deal with a more permanent repair after your bank account has had a chance to recover.

You need a power snake with a cutting head on it. A snake alone will not do the job.

PS, I would also check the home inspection report to see what comments were made about slow drains. Since this problem is readily observable simply by running the water for a while, the Home Inspector should have picked this up.

Answer 3

funny but not so funny i have the same problem i too had roto rooter to my house like three times. you really should have the old pipes replaced and take down tree's that are in the path of your drain. I know for my property it would have been close to $5000 for roto rooter to do the work. ( or you could call someone with less advertising expenses) now if you rent an auger chances are you wont do any more damage then you already have. you may cut some of the roots out but they will grow back for another 6-12 months after the tree's are gone. you will rent this machine for under $100. gl

Answer 4

Ask the company that augered the line, how far out the roots were. Then dig up the line and replace it there. Having a new house is expensive enough without worrying when the next clog will be. PVC pipes seem to divert roots away from them rather than going into them. I know this sounds hard but you need to realize, the roots have grown INTO the pipe and it will crumble after a bit of time. There is no chemical that will kill the roots and repair the pipe.

Answer 5

Power rodding every few years (you should not need to every year unless the cracks are huge) is fairly inexpensive compared to the thousands it will cost to dig it up and fix the problem completely. Even then, roots will ultimately find their way in again with traditional clay sewer pipe sections. (Although it take decades or longer depending.)

There is another option I saw on TV recently but know nothing about - it involved sending a air-filled bladder down the pipe and pumping in concrete around the bladder. I'm not sure of the cost, but it saves digging up the yard.

Perhaps the smartest thing to do is to send a camera down your line and taking a video of your pipes. It won't cost that much and will let you know exactly how bad the breaks are and where they're located so you know what you're up against.

Good luck-
...

Answer 6

My son had the same problem in a house he once owned & he found a guy who came to clean out the lines every now & then, for a low fee. It was a pain for my son to have this problem, & in time, he had to have a guy dig his yard up & replace the very old tile. For now, rent an industrial snake. Just have your b/f take it nice & slow when cleaning the line out. Maybe once he breaks through the tree roots a few times, you won't be bothered so much with sewer problems. Good luck to you!!!

Answer 7

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I had a similar situation years ago, and it was my responsibility. It wasn't even covered by the water and sewer company. I had water running down my driveway into the street. And the water company said I had a leak underground and that it was my responsibility to hire someone to come dig up my driveway and find the leak, otherwise the water and sewer company was going to start charging me for the wasted water. I pray your homeowners does cover your problem. Good Luck.