Roots in Basement Toilet?

[ultrarunner]

Neighbor's basement toilet would would not go down after flush.

Pulled toilet and found a heavy net work of roots outside the cast irons pipe and flange extending through wax ring into the toilet.

Roots outside the pipe causing problems is a new one for me.

The outside is heavily wooded so plenty of roots.

All I can think of is some type of permanent herbicide to prevent it recurring? What about copies amounts of salt?

 

[jyoutz]

Neighbor's basement toilet would would not go down after flush.

Pulled toilet and found a heavy net work of roots outside the cast irons pipe and flange through was ring into the toilet.

Roots outside the pipe causing problems is a new one for me.

The outside is heavily wooded so plenty of roots.

All I can think of is some type of permanent herbicide to prevent it recurring? What about copies amounts of salt?

Sealed ABS pipes

 

[oosik]

Somewhere a pipe joint has been pulled apart or there is a break in the pipe. Tree roots can be a real problem for septic systems.

 

[4570Man]

Copper sulfate but I’m not sure that anything truly works once the roots take hold.

 

[airbiscuit]

My friend had that happen at her cabin. First she had a capable septic tank pumping company do a thorough snaking of the drain line, followed by running a video camera through it to confirm all was clear. I recorded where the roots infiltrated the line (basically every cast iron joint). Then, twice a year, she runs a foaming root killer through the line. The brand below is pretty good, but your local septic pumping company probably has a more industrial version.

It is astonishing how well tree roots find the slightest bit of water.

 

[ultrarunner]

Good info...

I use to be able to buy Rootx and something called Angus...

I don't think either still available in California.

Neighbor is on city sewer and new lateral with heat welded seams within 6-7 feet of basement toilet.

The basement is walk to daylight built on down slope.

Lots of the outside soil was disturbed when city replaced lateral maybe 5 years back.

 

[ponytug]

@ultrarunner Any chance of digging the toilet line and replacing the remaining joints, or at least wrapping them in say copper?

My experience is like @airbiscuit's neighbor and once tree roots get in, they have to be cut out and treated and treated. I view it as a temporary fix.

All the best,

Peter

 

[jyoutz]

@ultrarunner Any chance of digging the toilet line and replacing the remaining joints, or at least wrapping them in say copper?

My experience is like @airbiscuit's neighbor and once tree roots get in, they have to be cut out and treated and treated. I view it as a temporary fix.

All the best,

Peter

Dig and replace with ABS pipe.

 

[CalG]

they make tools just to cut those roots...

then the chem treatment..

I've got a full sized Y for clean out access to the septic tank.
My bet is the dry well is just a ball of maple roots Though when I rebuilt it 30 years ago, the stack block structure was pretty clean

 

[ultrarunner]

It would require slab saw cut to expose the cast iron pipe and digging outside.

I'm wondering if the wax ring was not 100% liquid tight?

I've never come across roots following a pipe to the toilet flange but most of what I deal with is above ground with crawl space opposed to slab.

 

[Fixastuff]

Somebody swallowed some watermelon seeds.

 

[masseyrider]

Dig and replace with ABS pipe.

I saw on some program a neighborhoods water supply was slowly losing pressure and volume.
When they located where the problem was and dug it up it was discovered that the roots from a large tree had wrapped around the water pipe.
While they couldn't penetrate the pipe they grew around it and crushed it.
Don't underestimate the damage roots can do.

One day I went with my father to visit a friend of his. John, an older man at the time, was pissed off that the water delivery guy had ripped him off. He had a delivery just the day before and his cistern was already empty.
Pa and I lifted the inspection cover and looked inside. The entire one end was a mass of roots that had penetrated through the concrete.
The nearby Willow tree had sucked up the best part of a 1,000+ gallons in a couple days.

 

[jyoutz]

I saw on some program a neighborhoods water supply was slowly losing pressure and volume.
When they located where the problem was and dug it up it was discovered that the roots from a large tree had wrapped around the water pipe.
While they couldn't penetrate the pipe they grew around it and crushed it.
Don't underestimate the damage roots can do.

One day I went with my father to visit a friend of his. John, an older man at the time, was pissed off that the water delivery guy had ripped him off. He had a delivery just the day before and his cistern was already empty.
Pa and I lifted the inspection cover and looked inside. The entire one end was a mass of roots that had penetrated through the concrete.
The nearby Willow tree had sucked up the best part of a 1,000+ gallons in a couple days.

Wow

 

[ponytug]

It would require slab saw cut to expose the cast iron pipe and digging outside.

I'm wondering if the wax ring was not 100% liquid tight?

I've never come across roots following a pipe to the toilet flange but most of what I deal with is above ground with crawl space opposed to slab.

I've seen roots travel a long way along pipes. I think it is to be expected because trench backfill is generally looser than the surrounding soil, and today's practice of backfilling sand makes a wonderfully porous matrix for roots to grow and follow water.

My bet is that the roots are going to keep growing and clogging, and your neighbor is going to be treating the line several times a year and having to have the line rotorooted out every few years, and sooner or later the roots or the plumber is going to shatter the pipe. In my experience this never gets better.

I'm sure it isn't what your neighbor wants to hear, but my $0.02 is break out the concrete saw and fix it, unless she is about to sell, and even then, I think it might be worth it to get it off the disclosure list.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

Family home they built... doubt any sale in the future.

Odd that all these years no problem but maybe the new city installed line to the foundation clean out paved the way...

 

[ponytug]

Family home they built... doubt any sale in the future.

Odd that all these years no problem but maybe the new city installed line to the foundation clean out paved the way...

Trees get bigger, drought, other roots that were cut by the city redoing other lines forcing new growth...

I could keep throwing out possibilities, but I think that the bottom line is that the roots are there now and root free times are over.

Sorry.

All the best,

Peter