myuserid519
New Member
Hi folks,
I've got a problem that might end up being costly, so I'd greatly appreciate any advice.
We recently bought a 50 year old house (plumbers tell me it's got 4” clay pipe). Last week the sewer backed up in the laundry room. We called a plumber and he ran a 1/2 snake through with an approximately 1” triangular head. Watching the clean out, the snake pushed out some grey sludge. He went back and forth a few times, and some thick grey greasy sludge went through. I asked him about roots, and he said he didn't think there were any, as the snake went through cleanly.
A couple of days later, another small backup. Made arrangements for another plumber and a camera. Plumber put through a big headed snake (looked to me like 2.25 or 2.5 inches in diameter). Went through cleanly, with some grey sludge. Water flowed well again. This plumber said he thought it was “grease”, but we'd throw a camera down and have a look. They couldn't do it that day, so I had to wait until today.
Before the plumber got here today, I ran a bunch of water through and when there was a big flow I heard some glugging. With all the previous info, it seemed to me that there was a big organic mass in the pipe still, and the snake broke through the bottom. Camera seemed to confirm this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3iELJ8g0fA
[video=youtube;b3iELJ8g0fA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3iELJ8g0fA[/video]
My main question is: Is what's on the video evidence of tree roots? To my untrained eye it looks like a big organic mass, but I don't really see evidence of tree roots. Is there any chance that it's a long-term buildup of greasy sludge that can be cleaned out?
Plumber recommended inserting a liner for 3k. Are there other reasonable options? Can I try to snake it some more and add some Bio-clean?
Thanks for any info.
I've got a problem that might end up being costly, so I'd greatly appreciate any advice.
We recently bought a 50 year old house (plumbers tell me it's got 4” clay pipe). Last week the sewer backed up in the laundry room. We called a plumber and he ran a 1/2 snake through with an approximately 1” triangular head. Watching the clean out, the snake pushed out some grey sludge. He went back and forth a few times, and some thick grey greasy sludge went through. I asked him about roots, and he said he didn't think there were any, as the snake went through cleanly.
A couple of days later, another small backup. Made arrangements for another plumber and a camera. Plumber put through a big headed snake (looked to me like 2.25 or 2.5 inches in diameter). Went through cleanly, with some grey sludge. Water flowed well again. This plumber said he thought it was “grease”, but we'd throw a camera down and have a look. They couldn't do it that day, so I had to wait until today.
Before the plumber got here today, I ran a bunch of water through and when there was a big flow I heard some glugging. With all the previous info, it seemed to me that there was a big organic mass in the pipe still, and the snake broke through the bottom. Camera seemed to confirm this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3iELJ8g0fA
[video=youtube;b3iELJ8g0fA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3iELJ8g0fA[/video]
My main question is: Is what's on the video evidence of tree roots? To my untrained eye it looks like a big organic mass, but I don't really see evidence of tree roots. Is there any chance that it's a long-term buildup of greasy sludge that can be cleaned out?
Plumber recommended inserting a liner for 3k. Are there other reasonable options? Can I try to snake it some more and add some Bio-clean?
Thanks for any info.
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