[Will]

Originally Posted by limejudge69

Are there any clean outs on the line? Is there a city owned clean out near the sidewalk? I work in public utilities and there are usually 2 clean outs. One near the house that is owned by the homeowner, and another near the road/curb where the city takes over and maintains to the tap at the main. Did you call the city and have them come and look? Replacing PVC sewer pipe isn't very hard to do. I am amazed at what folks are charged and pay for repairs. If you can pinpoint the location of the roots, dig it up and replace the bad part. A stick of pipe and rubber repair boots are cheap and available at any hardware/home improvement store. Most times a bad spot is caused by another utility damaging the line, especially phone and cable contractors

The only cleanout is next to my house, owned by me. That's what the plumbers used to get their snake and camera down into the line. The cleanout was added at some time in the recent past as it is PVC. The city's responsibility ends at my property line and the problems are definitely on my property.

The line is old clay pipe from 1944. Presumably the roots are growing in at the joints which have probably shifted and lost their seal over time.

As mentioned above, there is one area where the root clog is really bad and that area would be easy to dig up. Replacing that section with PVC and rubber boots is exactly what I plan to do and I can do it myself.

Originally Posted by fyrffytr1

The drain line is 72 years old. I would bite the bullet and replace it all now. It will only cost more as time goes by. Is there a way to tunnel under the tree and install PVC? I have had PVC sprinkler lines installed and they tunneled under my sidewalks and driveway to install parts of it. How deep is the line?

There is no biting the bullet here, I simply do not have the kind of $$ they want to do a trenchless repair/reline and I'm not going to go into debt for it. I've had some health issues since December that kept me from working for two months and will likely have me out of work again after this week. Hospital bills and living expenses have already turned into a fairly large pile of debt I'm going to have to figure out how to pay off. As mentioned above, i can fix the worst of the problem pretty cheaply and easily by myself, or maybe with the help of a couple Mexicans from Home Depot. For the $$ they want to replace the entire line I can rent a snake and pour root killer down it for many, many years.

Originally Posted by Inogame

Root Kill can work. When I moved in had to clear the line 2 years in a row at $150 a pop. Then the next spring I started using the root kill... have not needed the plumber out the past 3 years.
Is that scientific? No, but $15 a year for the past 4 years beats $150 a year all day long.
Bottle says some drains can go once a year other might need 2 applications a year, still $30 a year is a better deal than you've got.

My next door neighbor, who's house is the same age as mine has dealt with the same issue and has had the same experience as you - he told me how he had to have the line snaked a couple times and since then he's been putting root killer down and hasn't had any more problems. Sounds like it's worth a try!

Thanks for the input everyone! Ah, the joys of homeownership...