Let me start off by saying that I really am good to my drains. I practice what I preach: no wipes in the toilet (even with a potty training toddler), no grease down the drain, and I have a strainer that has taken up permanent residency in my sink even though I have a garbage disposal. I don’t want any clogged pipes and I definitely don’t want to be a contributor to any type of sewage spill that could reach our precious waterways. However, even with all of my efforts, our sewer lateral got sick. A sewer lateral is the pipe that connects your home’s plumbing to the city-owned sewer pipeline, where it then leads to HRSD pipelines and eventually to a HRSD treatment plant where the wastewater is cleaned before being discharged to a local waterway. Sewer laterals are on private property, which means the property owner is responsible for their health and wellbeing.
I knew something was wrong when we had a regular occurrence of toilet clogs while family was visiting. Now, these family members happen to be the same ones that caused some toilet faux pas of their own during a trip to Greece that I blogged about, so it was tempting to blame them, but it became very clear that we were dealing with a bigger issue shortly after they left. It was a lazy weekend morning when nature called (as it does). I had the dishwasher running, the laundry machine running, and I gave the toilet a flush. Well, I should say I tried to flush, because my toilet stubbornly refused. Yep, you know where this is going. ALL of the water I was using at that moment was trying to go through the same 4 inch pipe, and when it couldn’t, it backed up and out the lowest points in the house – my bathtub drain and shower drain. Ugh. So. Gross. Sewage in the tub is not a pleasant thing. I mean, that’s where I go to get clean!
Robert and his assistant take a look down my sewer clean out.
I called up Robert Wertz, a local plumber and he was able to quickly remedy the situation and get things flowing in the right direction. He opened up the sewer clean out by the front of our house (a clean out is a capped pipe that provides access to a sewer line), which was full of wastewater (again, ugh), and used a sewer drain snake to unclog the line. My hero. But what caused the clog to begin with? We suspected tree roots, the scorn of the sewer system. The lovely oak tree in our front yard appears to have been planted almost directly over the sewer lateral. Nice. I’d love to have a nice long chat with whoever thought that was a great idea. So Robert came back with a special video camera that is made to go down sewer lines and took a look. It was kind of like a colonoscopy for our house. Sure enough, we could see lots of tiny roots coming through that PVC pipe right where the clog had been, which also appeared to be right next to (if not directly underneath) the oak tree. With the diagnosis confirmed he recommended a cure – remove the tree and replace that section of the pipe. Ah! Cut down our beautiful tree!? Such a dilemma – I hate to cut it down but if it’s going to cause a future break in the sewer lateral, what choice do I have?
Mama duck keeping her eggs warm under the gardenia.
While I was trying to figure out a way to keep our oak tree over the next few days, another complication presented itself. A female Mallard duck had made a nest in our garden bed next to the oak tree and was already faithfully incubating her eggs. It was just too much. Cut down a tree and disturb mama duck – no, no, no, can’t do it. I am 8 months pregnant, so blame it on the hormones if you want, but we decided to wait until mama duck’s eggs hatch before tearing up our yard.
We can’t wait too much longer though, our cracked and root-filled sewer lateral will not only clog again, but it is allowing water to enter the sewer system. Too much water, called Infiltration and Inflow (I/I), can cause a sewage overflow. HRSD is currently conducting an I/I pilot project, called the Sewer Lateral Inspection Program (SLIP), to identify and remedy these types of issues – and now I know I’m a contributor! Oh the shame.
This just goes to show that even if you know what to flush, you can still end up with a sewer issue of your own. Make sure to locate your sewer lateral before planting any new trees or shrubs this spring, and stay tuned for Part 2 to find out if we are able to save both our sewer lateral and our tree.