Your sewer line travels beneath your house’s slab and underground through your backyard. This lone pipe carries all your waste and wastewater to the municipal sewer system. If your sewer line develops a blockage, effluence could come rushing back into your home. Problems like sewer pipe bellies, offset pipe sections, and sewer line leaks can contaminate the surrounding soils and flood your backyard. Fortunately, you can avoid major sewer line issues with routine maintenance. Learn how it can save you money.
Identify the Need for Pipe Replacement Before Sewer Line Failure
Although some pipe materials can last 80 years or more, all sewer lines have finite lifespans. Factors like soil shifting, soil erosion, and water hardness can accelerate sewer line aging. Whether you purchased your home brand-new or bought an existing house, routine maintenance will help you track your sewer line’s age and integrity. With regular sewer maintenance, you can get updates that help you plan for eventual replacement. This way, sewer line failure won’t catch you off guard.
Find Strategies to Extend the Lifespan of Your Sewer Pipe
If you have excessively hard water and heavy limescale buildups in your sewer line, your plumber might recommend investing in water-softening equipment. A whole-house water softener can reduce both hard water deposits and in-pipe stress. This upgrade will also protect your indoor wastewater pipes and your water supply lines.
During maintenance, plumbers can also spot buildup of so-called flushable wipes and other slow-degrading materials. If you’re flushing the wrong things down your toilets, you can learn what to avoid before a major blockage or backup occurs.
Catch and Eliminate Invasive Tree Roots Early On
The portion of your sewer line that travels underground is highly attractive to tree and weed roots. Secondary tree and weed roots can enter sewer lines via cracks and other openings that are just millimeters wide. Once they find their way into sewer pipes, invasive roots grow quickly. They benefit from the constant access to moisture and nutrients.
Locating invasive roots in your sewer line before they block it entirely could stave off a whole-house backup. Timely interventions are often cheaper and less invasive as well. It’s typically easier to remove invasive roots and shore up small openings than it is to excavate severely damaged pipe sections and replace them.
Avoid Causing Water Damage to Neighboring Properties
When sewer lines rupture, they can render outdoor areas temporarily unusable. Unfortunately, minor sewer leaks can fester unnoticed for months on end. As they leach chemical and biological contaminants into the soil, they pose a risk to residents, animals, groundwater, and neighboring properties. With routine sewer line inspections and regular sewer line cleaning, you can avoid property damage on your side of the fence as well as costly premises liability issues.
Schedule Preventive Sewer Maintenance Today
For best results, plumbers recommend scheduling preventive sewer line maintenance every 18 to 22 months. However, if you have an older sewer line or if you’ve had problems with tree root intrusion before, your sewer pipe might need maintenance more often. For expert sewer line service in Rochester, NY, contact Nichols Electric and Plumbing now!
