Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Signs You May Have a Broken, Damaged or Obstructed Sewer Line

Your main sewer line is the largest drain in your home. All other household drains lead into this line which runs underground from your house and connects to a city sewer line or a septic tank. Your home's sewer line might have been placed properly at the time your house was built, but over time, it can become subject to a wide variety of damage, including:
  • Breaking, cracking, collapsing due to shifting soil or frozen ground.

  • Clogs and blockages due to household waste, debris, grease and foreign objects.

  • Corrosion and leaky joints and seals due to age

  • Obstructions caused by tree root infiltration.
When your sewer line is blocked or damaged, not only are you at risk for messy flooding throughout your house, you are exposing yourself to leaking sewage...which can contain diseases and hazardous chemicals, as well as serve as a magnet for rats and insects. For the sake of your home and your health, damaged and obstructed sewer lines must be identified and repaired as quickly as possible.

Here are the major signs of a damaged or obstructed sewer line:
  • Slow-running or backed-up drains (sinks, tubs, toilets)

  • Frequent back-ups of basement drains or laundry tubs

  • Gurgling drain noises

  • Toilet bowl water levels rise and fall

  • Sewage odor inside, outside and around your house

  • Raw sewage on ground surface

  • Rats or rat holes in your yard

  • Sink holes or soggy wet areas on your property

  • Water stains around the floor drain in the basement

  • Cracking and structural damage along walls, floors and foundations
If you observe any of these indicators, call a sewer line company like Horizon Services as soon as possible. A sewer line technician inspect your sewer line by running a high-tech video camera through the line. It's kind of like a colonoscopy for your sewer line! This will enable him to determine if there is any damage of blockage and to pinpoint its location.

If the problem is just due to a simple blockage, your sewer line technician can cut through the clog with a rooter machine and clear the sewer line down to its inner walls.

If your sewer line technician identifies more serious damage to the main sewer line, it will need to be repaired or replaced. In the old days, that meant digging up your entire yard and destroying your landscape. Today, companies like Horizon Services employ a trenchless method of sewer line repair and replacement that is quick, inexpensive and requires no or little excavation. There are two major ways he can accomplish this.

  • Pipe Bursting: With this method, your sewer line technician makes small access holes where the damaged pipe starts and ends. Using your damaged sewer line as a guideline, he uses a hydraulic machine to pulls a long-lasting replacement pipe through the old sewer line path, breaking up the old damaged pipe as it moves into place.

  • Pipe Relining: Here your sewer line technican places a fiberglass liner into the damaged sewer pipe -- ie. a pipe within a pipe. This creates a durable, damage-resistant inner wall that restores all flow and function to the line.



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