Have you noticed that the water in your bathtub or sink is draining more slowly than normal? Or maybe the toilet has started to make odd gurgling sounds? While the source could be a clog in your drain, it is also very likely that intrusive tree roots are the real culprit.
How Can Roots Impact My Sewer Line?
While the contents of your sewer line are not very appealing to humans, tree roots are naturally drawn to the water, oxygen and nutrients that travel through your sewer lines. If a crack develops in a pipe, or there is a loose joint, tree roots will begin to grow toward the pipe, seeking out the nutrients inside to help the tree grow and thrive. Once they’ve taken hold, roots will continue to grow inside the pipe. If left untreated, they can often fill the entire sewer line, which could lead to a complete blockage, potentially causing the pipe to crack and break, or both – which could cause irreversible damage to the pipe and the need for a sewer line repair.
How Do I Know if Roots Are Living in My Sewer Line?
One of the best ways to determine if roots have taken over your pipes is by hiring sewer experts like EcoClean to inspect your pipes with a high resolution sewer camera. This allows our technicians to see in real time what is really going on inside your pipes. Then, if roots are detected, our staff can determine what is the best way to remove them before they cause further damage.
I’ve Got Roots: Now What?
If our drain and sewer experts find that roots have invaded your sewer line, the good news is that the problem can be treated. Depending on the severity of the root intrusion, we can use water jetting or a mechanically root cut to remove the problem roots. However, what we recommend as the most effective method of root removal is by treating the issue with RootX®.
What is RootX®?
RootX® is an herbicide that uses root foaming technology to attack and kill the roots without harming trees, plants or your home’s sewer system. Once injected into your sewer line, RootX® foams to engulf the entire pipe, killing any part of the root inside. The foam will also kill any roots within a several-inch radius of the pipe, however the trees themselves will not be impacted.
At EcoClean, we have found treating roots with RootX® to be less time-consuming than mechanical cutting. Not only that, it’s more effective, since cutting the roots back doesn’t guarantee that they won’t grow right back into your pipes, which if not caught in time, could lead to the need for a trenchless sewer repair to restore the integrity of your pipes.
If you think that roots may have grown into your sewer lines, give the root experts at EcoClean a call. We can evaluate your pipes and, if necessary, treat them to restore your sewer line to normal function.
