Foundation drain clogged

[oliver28472]

Tried to poke it out with a tape and water hose but ran into a blockage right where there is a willow oak. Most likely I have a root problem. Can this be fixed by some type of drain cleaning machine or will it have to be dug up?

 

[scott_vt]

Tried to poke it out with a tape and water hose but ran into a blockage right where there is a willow oak. Most likely I have a root problem. Can this be fixed by some type of drain cleaning machine or will it have to be dug up?

Good Afternoon Oliver28472,
You might have some luck if you have a Roto Rooter outfit any where near you, unfortunately that didnt work out for me !

Im providing a link to a thread I started somtime ago and what I eneded up doing to alleviate my basement water problems ! Feel free to ask any questions you may have !

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/72203-water-basement-help.html

 

[vic4news]

I had to dig mine up. When I did I found that the drain pipe was crushed and split which allowed the roots to get into the pipe.

Vic

 

[Sherweld]

Some have had success with enzymes or chemicals http://www.rex-bac-t.com/site/805986/page/45029 for roots.

Other blockages (silting) special traveling nozzle for pressure washer works well in most cases.

 

[ampsucker]

i would think the easiest first step would be to rent a roter rooter with the root cutting head and try that first. worst case is it is crushed or broken as mentioned above and you have to dig it up. why not try the easier route first though. shouldn't be more than 50 bucks for 4 hours of rental.

if it is a root and you can get it unclogged, but copper sulphate blue crystals down it to help keep the roots under control. willows are bad, though. you might consider digging down and cutting them some distance back if they keep trying to get in on you.

amp

 

[Kernopelli]

It really just depends. As others have mentioned, it depends on the extent of damage. I have owned rental property for 20 years and have always done my own construction and maintenance. I purchased a good rooting machine about 10 years ago. I have used it with a root cutting head and had success but if it has collapsed the pipe, you are going to have to dig.

 

[EddieWalker]

Willow trees are very aggressive and require allot of water. It would be a pretty good guess that the roots got into the pipe and you will have to dig it up. Finding the place to dig is the real trick, but doable if you take allot of measurements and have a long enough snake to work with.

For cutting those roots, I found a sawzall to be the best thing out there.

To replace the pipe, you will need two rubber couplings that tighten with hose clamps. It's the only way to get a tight seal with burried pipe.

Good luck, it's one of those things that takes allot of time and there's no easy way. You just stick with it until it's done.

Eddie

 

[DWW68]

Depending on the type of pipe that you have, a root cutter may just destroy the pipe. If the pipe in the area with the tree is just for transporting the water and not for catching the water, you should use the solid pipe and not the perf. My guess is that you will be better off to replace the pipe.

 

[oliver28472]

Thanks for the replys. The pipe is corrugated black plastic. I think I might run the tape up in there again and try to track it with a metal detector and dig there.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I had a sewer line that kept stopping up about every 8-12 months. I would Rotoroot it out and it would be good to go for a while. Finally it stopped up while I was out of country and I hire a plumber to fix it. He boroscoped it and said the pipe was broken in two spots. One spot was under the house and had to be tunneled in to get it. The contractor who built it 25 years ago did a bad job with the plumbing and the joint had came apart. The 2nd spot was done with a ditching machine. Looked like someone hit it when running the electrical feed cables. Rather than dig up the line and fix it properly, they cut a plastic can and placed it over the top of the cut. Roots just kept growing inside and stopping it up. A couple of years ago, a new house was built next to mine and the contractor ditchwitched in a power cable to the junction box supplying my house. He nicked the cable which shorted it out. Since I wasnt living there at the time, no one knew about it for several months. Surprise when I came home and had brown out conditions on half the house and good power on the other half. Power company came out checked it, found the problem, cut off all my power and said I had to fix the cable before they would turn it back on. I got a couple of estimates $2500 was the cheapest. THEN I called up the new builder. He eventually fixed it but it took about a month. I had to pay the electric company to rent some power cables for a month till all was trenched and replaced. THis time I warned them about the sewer line and they hand dug across it so they could run under it with the electrical. WHAT A NIGHTMARE TO RETURN HOME TOO AND IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER WITH NO HEAT. Good think I live in the South where it isnt bitterly cold.