Over time, the main sewer line is used to ferry wastewater from your home to the sewer can break down. Often it just starts with a little crack or a weak spot. However, what is inside of your main sewer line is considered a nutrient-rich environment flush with moisture. It is essentially the ideal place for root growth. When nearby tree roots sense a breach in this main line, they invite themselves right on in. Tree roots can be slow growers, but once they are inside your main sewer line, they thrive and spread wildly in that environment. The worst part is that you don’t even know it is happening.
For most homes, they don’t discover that they have tree roots growing in their main line until the roots get so dense that they cause a clog. Like with any serious plumbing problem, you have one question on your mind — How much is this going to cost you?
Cost to Remove Tree Roots From a Main Line
Like with many sewer problems, the overall cost of the issue is never just one thing. When you have tree roots in your main line, the cost will have to include:
- General hourly labor cost for the plumbing diagnosis and repair
- Removal of the roots
- Repairing the damaged pipe
While labor costs for the plumber can vary, the other costs are somewhat predictable. They can, however, differ depending on the methods used to complete them.
How Are the Roots Removed?
In many cases, if the tree roots are causing blockages, then they will need to be cut. Using a specialized device inserted into the pipe, it essentially augers through the tree roots so they can be cleared away by running water through the pipe and pushed into the sewer. This is a pretty intense, but effective method of removal. Depending on the length of the root clog, it can run between $100 to $600 dollars for this removal.
For mild root invasions, there are chemical solutions to remove them as well. This is typically much cheaper at anywhere between $15 to $100. These can also help treat other non-root clogs as well. If you catch tree roots before they damage the pipe too badly, annual chemical treatment can help keep them at bay and prevent expensive main line repair. This is why many choose to have regular video inspections of their sewer lines, so they can catch issues early and explore cheaper options.
How is the Pipe Repaired?
This is often where the bigger costs of tree root removal in your main line come from. If tree roots have grown in your main line once, they will come back over time. In some cases, you can get away with the aforementioned cheap annual chemical treatments. However, the only sure way to make sure the roots do not come back is to replace that section of pipe that has been breached.
Main line sewer pipe replacement can cost between $1,000 to $4,000 because the pipe has to be dug up and replaced. There are cheaper solutions such as trenchless pipe-lining. This sees the pipe lined from the inside, which means they do not need to dig up the main line. However, if your main line was substantially damaged by growing roots or otherwise too degraded due to age, it is not a suitable candidate for pipe-lining, leaving replacement as the only option.
Do you have tree roots growing in your main line or suspect other sewer problems are manifesting in your home? Contact us today, we can help detect problems and be upfront with the projected costs to fix the issue. Let SOS Drain & Sewer come to your rescue.
