sewer line maintenance
I don’t think it’s all street trees that are a problem. We had an enormous >100 year old silver maple in front of our house that clogged our sewer line every couple of years. I expect that the honey locust we had planted to replace it will be far less of a problem, even, should it survive long enough to get large, for a future generation of owners.
BobMarvin
in Sewer 9 years and 3 months ago
8
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8 replies
stickman | 9 years and 3 months ago
Hi, Recently moved into a new home and wondering if any maintenance is required of the sewage line? I would imagine some leaves and muck getting into the pipes in the fall / winter. Does the pipe need to be snaked (annually)?
GreenThinker | 9 years and 3 months ago
There should be a house trap that should be cleaned out annually. As for the pipes, they are normally pretty clean and clear from heavy rains/daily use.
daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 3 months ago
If where it runs out the house you have a tree in the line of sight, you may want to get it inspected for roots but I wouldn’t get overly worried about it. They are big and remain pretty clear due to the dounspout rainwater running through them
dorkofwindsor | 9 years and 3 months ago
usually the biggest issue you will have are tree roots. If there were renters in the house previously, they may have been dumping cooking oil down the drain which could muck up the drains, but usually owners don’t do that as they would have learned the hard way. Also, many house backyard drains connect to the main drain and if this is your case, you may get some pebbles etc in the various traps in the basement (including the main trap) but these can be cleaned out pretty easily by hand. Other than that, it might be good if you knew the age and if the main sewer line and if it has been replaced. You won’t know if you have roots until it clogs so it may be good to have the sewer and drain company phone number handy if that ever happens. Or, you could pre-emotively have the email drain line snaked to have a “baseline”.
workisfun | 9 years and 3 months ago
Also, if you have reason, an endoscopic inspection can be very useful. I had backup flooding inside last spring. When roto rooter jetted, they also snaked a camera through the line (no addtl charge). Reassured us that the main line was in decent shape.
anotherposter | 9 years and 3 months ago
If you’ve got trees in front of our property and the funds, I do think having a camera run though is worth it to look for roots and the material and condition of the pipe. We didn’t do that in our new place and weeks after replacing the sidewalk and front yard hardscaping, had a back up during a big rain storm. Turned out the street tree had tons of roots in the sewage line. It would have been so easy to replace while the front was dug up. I just have Econo Sewer run a snake with blades through twice a year to keep the roots cut back until we absolutely have to replace the line because I don’t want to cut up all or nice work.
workisfun | 9 years and 3 months ago
anotherposter- oh no. As a humorous aside, my neighbor recently had to excavate the line in the front yard due to a tree that destroyed it. Nine feet down. At the bottom, they found several dinosaur bones…from plastic toys that must have been flushed by a previous resident.
snowman2 | 9 years and 3 months ago
Another vote for tree roots being the main problem and you have no idea what’s gone on before you purchased. There’s no mess and it’s pretty cheap to schedule a drain cleaning before it backs up. You have no idea what’s gone on before you purchased. I use EconoSewer too. Based on what they tell you they found you can take it from there whether/when you should repeat it.