A couple of months ago we had a bit of water in our crawlspace downstairs which led to the discovery of roots growing into the pipe connecting the house to the main sewer line. Our options were to pay to have the pipe cleaned out every year or so, or get it replaced. Either way was an expensive proposition, so we chose the latter. Yesterday the work was done.
It was a fascinating procedure, since they only had a guess (within 3 feet) as to where the pipe exactly was under the ground, and the rise in our front yard meant they’d have to dig to a depth of at least five foot. The guy operating the excavator was a professional, and he was very careful and precise since he wanted to minimize damage to the front yard. almost immediately the scoop was breaking theough tangles of roots, and sometimes they were so thick his helper had to cut them with a chainsaw!
It took about 2.5 hours to reveal the pipe, and as you can see they had to shift the dig location a bit from their original guess. While this was happening there was another guy inside installing a new toilet and faucet in our downstairs bathroom, and he told me that on a previous dig they had unearthed (about 6 foot underground) a suitcase full of old style dolls, and that another employee had once found a box of cash (that the homeowner had let him keep)!
Here’s where the root had grown into the old pipe. It had created a dense root mass about 8 foot long and the guys were amazed we hadn’t had a serious blockage before!
The affected section was removed (the red circles show where it was cut out) and a new plastic one put in. They also added a clean-out access valve (apparently it’s required by code now) to make it easier to remove any future blockages.
The hole was then filled in and the work was almost complete. I say almost since the ground will settle so they’ll return after the thaw to add a load of dirt on top. Here’s what it looks like today, with the cleanout cap circled:
As I said this was very expensive, but we trust they did a good job and hopefully this will minimize problems in the future (plus we have a new loo and faucet downstairs). Stuff like this is just one of the many ‘joys’ of owning a home!