How Do Tree Roots Get In To My Grass Valley Sewer?

Sewer pipe with roots
Sewer pipe with roots

How Do Roots Get in Your Sewer Line?


Trees are beautiful in our Grass Valley yards, but did you know they can also pose a threat to the integrity of your pipes underground? Tree roots in sewer lines is a very common problem, they can wreak havoc on your plumbing system.

How do tree roots get in to the sewer pipe?

In order to survive, trees need water, nutrients and oxygen. If they don’t have enough of any of these, their roots go searching for them. Unfortunately for our homes, sewer lines provide tree roots with exactly what they’re looking for, water, fertilizer and oxygen.
The easiest way for a tree root to infiltrate a sewer line is if there is a brake in a line or pipe. Once these cracks in the line are found by a root it will send a signal to the tree that it found water, nutrients and oxygen. Once a tree root has penetrated a pipe, it will continue to grow into the pipe and get thicker and longer.

What happen when tree roots are in your sewer line?

If a tree root finds its way in to your sewer line, it will begin to slow the flow of water in your sewer. Often times the first sign of this is a gargling noise that comes from your toilet bowl. If the problem is not taken care of, it can cause a complete back-up and possible flood of your sewer line. The root’s original point of entry will also expand as the root grows thicker and could eventually cause the pipe to collapse.

How can you remove tree roots from your sewer line?

If you think you might have tree roots in your sewer line, it’s best to contact a plumber like ABT Plumbing. We can perform a video inspection of your sewer line and identify the problem. If we do find tree roots in your sewer line, there are a number of different things we can do to fix the problem, depending on the severity of the situation.

One of the ways to help solve this issue is to have us run our sewer snake down the sewer line. This is just a temporary fix though. Unfortunately all we can do with our snake is prune the roots. The best solution for a broken sewer with root infiltration is to fix the break. We have many different ways to do this both with digging up the line and trenchless solutions.

Give ABT a call for a free estimate and evaluation 530-272-9120

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