Roots, waste line, water line and good intentions....

[Nandy]

So, I have been fighting a root problem on my main waste line almost to the city demark for years now. I have one of them fancy motorized snake that gets the water running again but not for long. Lately it is a every other week issue and the snake borer is not doing it. In my situation I find it impossible to spend a cool few thousand dollars to get a pro to dig my problem out (honestly, even when I was working I would had have a problem, but could afford it) so the best next thing is me doing the job.
Now, I have had "locates" in this property so many times I cant even count them with my two hands, all utilities are to the left of the house except of the sewer and Time Warner. I dont give a shit about time warner so I get to dig. Bought an auger and built and extension to the bit so I can dig up to 5 feet. I use the auger to make holes in a pattern and it is a lot easier to remove dirt. Still back breaking job.
Day one went from a lot harder to disaster as I hit the water line right at dark... Had to cut the water to the house, wife was really not happy. Had to run to walmart to buy water to flush the toilets and all.
Day two got up early and got started right at 9am (dont want to bother the neighbors) and got to dig, for almost 8 hours... Got the line uncovered which happens to be side by side with the waste line so I would have to dig that hole anyway but not in the hurry as I was since I had no water. I did my repairs and while I was at it I tee off a connection since I have always wanted to have a water fountain on around that area between my Maple and Bradford Pear tree so it was not all that bad at the end...
However, them fuckers that locate this property need to do something. I am going to have it located again comes fall and see how I get that rectified. For a second I thought maybe the builder threw a separate water line for the spigot on that side of the house but I did plug the line first to test and I had no water....
Now I have to dig a bit more to completely uncover the waste line pvc line, cut the roots, cut the pvc (I can already see it cracked) and get it fixed before we have all that bad weather saturday evening/sunday....

Here is a peek....

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn215/nandy_temp/20170309_153211.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn215/nandy_temp/20170309_153236.jpg

Later y'all!

[Thumper]

Dang Nandy! That looks like some pretty tough digging ... even with the auger. Good luck with it buddy, I hate crap like that.

Any news on the job front?

[airbud7]

Hose clamps on a main water line?.....what kinda water line down there?

[Nandy]

Jim, no job up to today. I had an interview with lowes working in the lumber department making a whooping $11.85. The hiring manager said the job is mine but that was almost 2 weeks ago, did the drug test last friday and they are running the background records, I guess they are driving both things back and forth in an ubber.... I also had a phone interview with windstream wednesday, the lady wants to have a face to face friday 17. That position wont start until May 1st.
Hopefully lowes comes thru soon. I dont want to dig in the "IRS fund" and surely not touching the house money. Lowes at least will pay for the truck.

Airbud, that is a 3/4 poly pipe. The guy at lowes told me that was the way to fix it. I will check again with the other guy which is a licensed plumber.

[Big Muddy]

Nandy, I really don't understand what you're saying about the roots....have they invaded the inside of your sewage field line???
If so, there's a snake made, that has rotating cutter blades on the end of it, which cuts the roots off, from the inside of the line.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I sure don't envy you the task of digging that stuff up by hand! What kind of tree? Its hard to see the roots you're talking about in the picture. Is that where the roots were invading?

Sorry to hear about the job front. It must be extra tough these days in our field. I just heard from some more folks at my old place of work that just got let go. More jobs going offshore.

BKB

[Arty]

I thought the first thing Jimbo did. That looks like some tough diet to be digging in!

[Nandy]

I have not gotten to the roots yet. I should have to dig about a feet more towards the house.
muddy, I have such snake but the root just grows back and the drain gets plug again.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I've heard of rootsgetting into old clay sewer pipes in older parts of towns, and in perforated pvc used for lateral lines and such, but never into a main sewer line. My bet is you're gonna find that line got crushed or compromised somewhere.

BKB

[Nandy]

You are correct. Roots should not get into a properly installed PVC sewer line but MI is a sorry ass excuse for a builder. It rain here this morning so it will be a mess. Heading from dropping Esteban to his care. Will get some more sleep, maybe it will have dried up a bit in a couple of hours.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I feel for ya.

BKB

[Nandy]

Digging will be a lot easier now that I have reach the depth I need. I just worried about nit getting it done by tomorrow and that bad weather hits. Later y'all!

[LJ3]

I'd be more worried that your wife ain't got water. That seems much more of a threat to your safety, currently.

Good luck on the job front!

[Big Muddy]

Nandy, the reason I asked about the roots, growing inside the sewer line, is I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guy, who had the same problem;)....he kept having to shear off the roots from the inside, about every 3 months....I happened to be talking to my plumber buddy, and he said to flush a gallon of Roundup down the toilet, and allow it to settle in the sewer line, undisturbed, for about 12 hours....he said it worked like a charm for about 3 years....a gallon of Roundup costs about $30 bucks....and, no surrounding trees or bushes were injured in the process.

[Nandy]

Len, I got the water working last evening otherwise, yeah, I would be sleeping in the garage...
Muddy, I used the copper sulfate treatment but it worked only for a short time. I think it works better when the system is not as plugged as mine.
I dug all the way and past the plug and was amazed at the damage and amount of root. I mean, it was literally a plug with a hole in the middle where I have been running the motorized snake. Also, it seems the line was broke, not sure how, I keept finding parts of pvc pipe as I was digging up at different depts, first it was around 1 feet of the surface, the really close to the where the pipe laid. So this is definitely a contractor fuck up....
I have pics, maybe later.... Tomorrow I should cut the part off if it is not too cold for me. For the time being I covered the pipe back again with about 6 inches of dirt to make sure if the weather shows up early the water line will not freeze. I also put plywood to cover the hole....

Man, this is young's man game, I can feel all my muscles, in pain!!!!!
LOL!

[Big Muddy]

Nandy, copper sulfate will only stunt the young tender roots, not kill them.....Cutrine, a derivative of copper sulfate, is an algaecide labeled for use to kill algae in small ponds.....I've used it, and it takes a ton of that sheeit to do any good.....so, if a label rate won't even kill algae, common sense tells me it dang sure isn't gonna kill tree feeder roots.....Roundup.....jmho.

[Big Muddy]

Btw, Nandy, my weekend ain't so great, either.....I'm suppose to fry crappie and catfish for some friends, tonite at the lakehouse.....got here a few hours ago to get everything ready, and another one of these stinking bastages dug under the patio, and sprayed his azz-juice everywhere.....I trapped and drowned two of 'em in the lake, last weekend, and now I gotta try to trap another one, too....I've almost got the stinch beat down, so maybe we won't hafta hold our noses, while we eat supper, tonite.
This one is from last week.....bastages!!!


8686

[BarryBobPosthole]

Its too bad Uncle Frank isn't around,he could fix you right up.

BKB

[Big Muddy]

What???.....with Nandy's turd line or my skunks???.....pretty sure I'm getting the little stinkers under control.....just dropped the third, and hopefully, the last one, in the lake, inside the cage.....they can hold their breath for exactly two minutes. ;)