# The roots that owned the sewer part 1



## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

So we are at this job now where the sewer was bellied so bad it was crazy! It was buried very shallow to begin with 100 years ago but what happened was the little tree in it's path got big! The roots pushed the line up it was almost at the surface. Code is 18-24" cover with exceptions for certain circumstances. The 2 houses are very close to each other not to mention 2 gas lines and 2 water lines, the tree and foundation drainage someone installed, not a lot of room, cutting the big roots always scares me because I don't want someone saying 2 years down the road that I killed the tree that smashed their house. So I used the air knife to find away through the root maze. It made the digging go so fast compared to trying to use trenching shovels that always smash into the roots and rocks. To say that the pipe had roots is an understatement. The roots owned the pipe flat out for about 50 feet. Bursting was my first choice but it was impossible once I found out the lines condition. here are just a couple pics.


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

And yea this line was probably at about 16" to start but you can see in the one pic that it had been pushed up to under the cement they put in for the dog run. Beyond the dog run it was just an inch below the surface. We have shallow sewers but this is not the norm.


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## plumberpro (Jan 1, 2013)

that's a major root clog its amazing that it workd at all with that amount of roots


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

It did not work at all and had not for sometime, the ground all around in the dog pen was all grease and food and smelled real bad... they have another sewer on the other side of the house that does the sanitary the side we are on does a couple sinks and the downspouts. If I had to guess it had not drained in 5 plus years but the ground could not take anymore and the water was coming to the surface.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

After going 10' down, I'm sure this was a welcome change.


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

Between the huge roots and the landscape crew next door taking all the parking for blocks I kinda miss the 10' job.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Wow, 100 year old pipe. Is it cast iron? Looks like some thick walled pipe. Almost looks like concrete.


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