Michael & Liz are Bloggable

4 years ago after we bought the house, the main sewer line going from the house to the street got clogged up. We had a plumber come out and unclog the drain and the plumber said that he thought there were some roots in the drain, but there wasn't that much. He said, he wouldn't worry about it.

Then, this Spring, we had the same thing happen. Drain clogged up, we got a plumber to clear the drain but this time he said it is a pretty strong root. His suggestion was for me to dig down and fix it myself. I put a stake in the ground where I thought the clog was, and said "I'll get to it".

This week I got to it, although not in the way I wanted. I was forced to. On Wednesday Liz was running the washer upstairs and all of a sudden, when it started draining, our toilet downstairs started gurgling and then the water started to rise. ACK! It's only been 6 months!!

A plumber came out again and said the root was so strong that when the drill bit used to clear the clog went through, he couldn't pull it back out. They unhooked the drill at the other end, and then just pulled the wire back through.

So today was the day. It was time to dig down and find out what's going on. To prepare, I called the 811 number to get our utilities marked, so I didn't hit an electrical wire or gas pipe or anything. And this morning I started digging.

I was smart enough to document the work with pictures, check it out.

So you can see where the line goes. It's from the little spout at my feet all the way to the white pipe coming out of the ground near the trash cans. If you look close, halfway along, there is a white dot where the plumber thought the pipe was on Wednesday. Turns out he was completely wrong and the spot was where I put the stake back in the Spring. Oh well, cost me about a half hour of digging.




We've struck GOLD! There's the pipe. Nowhere near where I originally started digging.


The problem is instantly evident. Should there be a massive hole with a big root sticking into the pipe?? The root is to the far right of the crack. You can't see it in this shot, but it's there. In fact the root had wrapped itself around the pipe, and was starting to tear a crack in the bottom of the pipe. Give it a little more time and we may not have had a pipe anymore.

I has a tired.

Can there be anymore roots? What an awesome source of water this tree has had!!


You can see the cracking that has already started around the bottom of the pipe on the right.

Now this is the point at which my easy little task took a turn for the worse. Little did I know that when building the house, the builders ran the water line directly beneath the sewer pipe. So when I started to saw the sewer line out, I accidentally hit the water line.

Saying that I panicked would be an understatement. Luckily my neighbor across the street was outside and he ran over and turned off our water line at the street. I didn't even know how to do that, but water was spewing every where and I couldn't hardly think. I actually didn't take a lot of pictures at this point, because lets face it, documenting this moment wasn't a big concern of mine.

I immediately called a plumber to get someone who knows what they are doing. I spent the next 30 minutes cleaning out water from the hole and continuing to dig to get a better look at both pipes. The plumber arrives and says to continue cutting out the sewer line and he'll fix the water line. Good deal.

So... back to pictures. We finally get the sewer pipe out:




Ah! Relief, the water line is fixed, but for a pretty little $155 penny. Back to the sewer line... It took a while to find the parts, I had to go to 3 different stores to find the correct pipe and couplers.


I probably cut the new pipe unnecessarily close to the length needed, but that way there is very little lip on the inside for stuff to get stuck.


This is exactly how the plumber suggested I do it. He even got the part out of his truck to show me. Very nice of him.


This is the second largest pile of dirt we've ever had in our drive way.


This last picture might be more for my benefit than anyone elses. If we ever have to dig the pipe up again, I know where it is.

So now we are running laundry, I showered, we finally flushed our toilets, and are now enjoying the amenities we are use to. I'm leaving the pipe exposed until tomorrow to make sure we don't have any leaks. If all is well until tomorrow, I'll cover it up and try to forget this day. But for now, I am going to sit here and enjoy the sound of our washing machine. Go water go!