# Plumbing Blockage - Roots



## cyrusd (Jan 12, 2011)

Here's the story-

Around spring we had a mowing accident outside and accidentally mowed over and broke the covering for the pvc thing outside that gives access to the plumbing(what is that thing called??).

We covered it up with a small bucket  for a week or so until we got around to sawing it down level and actually covering it up the right way.

A few months later we got major draining issues, everything on that side of the house connected to it would drain really slow- we called our home owners insurance and they ran an electric auger and cleared the obstruction and it was all good.

Time passes, everything is all good.

Last month or so we have had worse draining issues and we can't even use the plumbing on that side of the house without major clogging. We called home owners insurance again and they came out and ran electric auger again but got stuck and pulled back 'roots'. The guy tried about 3 more times but kept getting stuck and he called it quits and said we would need to pay and reschedule for another service where they run a camera down there to check out where roots are coming from and check out the damage and etc.

I told em I'd have to think on it and I'd let them know.

He said this is a pretty major issue a lot of the time and our home owners insurance doesn't cover it, and after the quick call it turns out our home insurance policy doesn't cover it either.

He said he was able to run the auger about 15 feet before getting stuck. The roots appear to be under the house. And there are really no big trees or anything of that nature near that could be affecting from what I can tell.

I'm wondering if these were caused from when we broke the cover off outside and left it uncovered for a while and from the mowing debris that went down there?? I don't know much about how this could form or where its from though.

I attached two pictures of what he pulled out as far as the roots are concerned.

I'm not sure what to do from here. I've read a couple of threads about putting some sort of salt down the drain every week or so to kill the roots and etc. But- wanted to share my story and see if there are any suggestions????

I don't want to cause any more damage, but I don't want to spend an arm and a leg getting it fixed when it could be a minor issue.


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## joecaption (Jan 12, 2011)

I'm sure there going to make a big deal out it to make sure they can charge you an arm and a leg but all it involves is cutting the old line digging it out and replacing the whole thing. 4" PVC is only about $10.00 for 20'.
Very doubtful your hitting the distrabution cover had any thing to do with getting roots in the line.
More likly you have old Orangeberg drain lines which always leak and end up getting roots in them when you have a dry summer. 
Is your drain line black or White. If it's white it's PVC and it's rare to see roots get in a line, If it's black and not plastic looking and sort of rough on the outside it's Orangeberge.
It's not a fun job but many times I've dig up my own in houses I've owned or for customers. It's not rocket science.
Most areas have a code that states there has to be a clean out within 4" of the foundation so someone can get a snake down the drain from the outside.
You have to use what's called a sweep tee or clean out tee with a threaded cap on it.


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## cyrusd (Jan 12, 2011)

Thanks for the reply!

The drain line is white...  Also, it appears to go under the house- is that typical? That sounds like a lot of digging haha- I'm definitely out of my element on this type of thing.

This would definitely require replacing the PVC on this though?


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