A healthy sewer line is crucial for a functional home. Unlike other home maintenance tasks like painting, roofing, or electrical installations, homeowners often forget to check their sewer lines as they lie hidden beneath structures.
Sewer line issues can lead to significant property damage if left unaddressed. Recognizing the warning signs early can save you money and prevent costly repairs. This guide outlines the most common signs you need sewer line repairs and offers insights into addressing them effectively.
Why Early Detection is Key for Sewer Line Repairs
Early sewer line repair is a sure way to save money. Plumbing issues are like volcanoes. They escalate quickly and could turn into a nightmare if not resolved in time.
To curb this, you need sewer line inspection. Sewer line inspection entails a licensed plumber using advanced technology, including specialized sensors and cameras, to scan your pipe’s inner areas for potential plumbing issues.
The benefits of timely sewer line inspection are highlighted below.
- Saves money: Detecting plumbing issues early prevents costly sewer repairs.
- Health and Safety: Catching sewer line issues early saves your family from unsanitary conditions and contamination arising from untreated sewage backups.
- Maintaining property value: Regular maintenance services increase your property’s value if you want to sell it.
- Upholding peace of mind: Another importance of sewer maintenance is that it ensures you don’t have to worry about plumbing emergencies.
Ignoring weird odors and putting up with slow-draining toilets is dangerous. Aside from attracting pests and causing water supply problems, broken sewer lines may contaminate soil and damage your property.
7 Key Signs You Need Sewer Line Repairs
Your sewer line can easily clog because of gradual debris buildup, tree roots, deterioration, or accidental damage. The good news is that you can prevent serious sewer line blockage by watching for the following common signs.
1. Slow or Clogged Drains
A slow-emptying drain is among the most common and frustrating sewer clog symptoms. It gets disastrous because all fixtures in your property drain through the same sewer pipes. So, slow or clogged drains from any point signify a serious plumbing issue requiring attention.
Persistent drain issues from multiple drainage pipes, such as your kitchen sink, toilet, dishwasher, or shower, indicate clogs in your sewer line. However, one drainage pipe could have a blockage if the slow drain is notable from a specific area.
There are two types of clogs every homeowner should know: localized clogs and main drain blockages. But how can you distinguish the two?
Localized clogs
- Causes a slow drain in a single fixture.
- When water backs up from a specific fixture, say a kitchen sink or bathtub, it indicates a localized clog.
- Occurs shortly after usage or an activity. For instance, a slow-moving drain occurring after a shower due to trapped hair or soap is a localized clog.
Mainline clogs
- Causes slow drains from multiple fixtures simultaneously. You’re experiencing a mainline clog if various drainage pipes from your toilet, to your kitchen are slow–emptying.
- Weird gurgling noises when flushing your toilet or running water is another sign of a mainline clog.
- A foul smell from various drains in your house means a main drain clog.
To identify and remove the clog, talk to an experienced plumber for an inspection before your house turns into a hazardous flood zone.
2. Foul Odor
Sewer pipes contain decaying matter and contaminated wastes. A healthy sewer line drains the waste, leaving fresh air all along. Your sewer line is crying for help if you notice foul odors from your yard, when washing dishes, or when flushing your toilet.
When drainage pipes crack or get damaged, the horrible odor from broken sewer lines escapes into the environment. Additionally, the foul smell signals a blockage or leak that is about to worsen.
Aside from making your home inhabitable, sewer gas smell causes serious health problems. As per the Illinois Department of Public Health, untreated odors lead to hydrogen sulfide gas poisoning, which causes headaches, dizziness, nausea, poor memory, and vomiting. Also, prolonged exposure to sewer gas causes adverse effects, including organ damage, comma, and, on the extreme, death.
Detecting sewer gas leaks early helps you to resolve drainage problems in time. A professional plumber assesses and fixes potential leaks to prevent sewer line breakdown.
3. Backed-up toilets or Fixtures
It shouldn’t worry you much if your toilet or kitchen sink backs up occasionally. This happens due to excessive usage of tissue papers or trapped food particles. However, a toilet or fixture backing up regularly means your sewer line has grave clogs.
Toilet backup causes wastewater to flow back into your house, causing flooding and contamination. Apart from bringing inconveniences, backed-up plumbing lines spread harmful pathogens that cause diarrhea, vomiting, and various health risks.
To prevent such unpleasant occurrences, take action whenever you notice constant fixture back-ups. A licensed plumber is the best person to handle fixture sewer line problems.
4. Unusually Green or Wet Lawn Areas
Have you started noticing unusual puddles or attractive green spots on your lawn? Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s not about landscape changes but a broken sewer line. The green patches from sewer leaks indicate you need a sewer repair.
When there’s a clog in your drainage pipes, the sewage wastewater leaks. Since it contains organic nutrients, it enriches and irrigates lawn grass, creating a lush spot.
So, contact your plumber for a sewer line inspection if you see suspicious wet spots on the lawn with green grass patches. Water from untreated leaks carries the following hidden dangers.
- It weakens your home’s foundation, ceiling, floors, and walls, leading to structural damage.
- It opens your home to pests, including beetles, cockroaches, and weird bugs, causing pollution and sickness.
- Untreated water leaks create stains, damage walls and floors, and promote mold growth, ultimately diminishing your property’s value.
- Untreated leaks grow molds and bacteria, resulting in severe health risks.
5. Cracks in Your Foundation or Walls
A large, visible crack on your property’s foundation is among the evident structural issues from sewer problems. Cracks happen if leaks from your drainage lines remain unresolved for long.
Also, when your main sewer line cracks, water saturates the soil beneath, causing foundation cracks due to weakening. Further, drainage leaks sag the soil, leading to the sinking of yard holes.
How can you tell if water damage is affecting your foundation?
- Mold and mildew presence: Mold and mildew thrive where there’s dampness. Pay attention to the areas around your property’s foundation and check for water leaks that destroy foundations.
- Excess moisture and dampness: Check your basement or crawlspace to see if there’s condensation, dampness, or standing water that causes water damage.
- Cracks: Watch out for minor hairline fractures or large, visible cracks. Cracks are a sign of water damage which occurs as water infiltrates your home’s foundation.
- Musty smells: You’re likely to feel a lingering musty odor in your home if the foundation or area beneath your property is damp. This is an impact of water damage on your foundation.
- Wall discoloration: Discoloration on your walls means water with minerals seeps through the foundation, leaving behind minerals that evaporate into a powdery residue. It’s essential to address the water issue urgently to stop further damage to your foundation.
6. Increased Pest Activity
You have an impending sewer line problem if you notice increased pest activity in your home. Damaged pipes bring more issues than just leaks. Sewer line pest issues emanate from broken pipes as well.
If you’re wondering about the relationship between pests and plumbing problems, pay attention to this. When you have sewer line damage, pests like cockroaches and rodents take advantage of the cracks to enter your home. Additionally, leaks from cracked pipes release sewer gas, attracting houseflies and bugs.
Talk to a professional plumber if you’re experiencing an influx of pests and rodents on your property, especially near plumbing fixtures. With a sewer line inspection, getting rid of the prevalent rodents from sewer leaks will be easy.
7. Unusually High Water Bills
A spike in your water usage is another indicator that you need a sewer line repair urgently. If you unexpectedly start paying a higher-than-normal water bill for the same water usage, there’s a likelihood of hidden sewer line issues.
First, check your neighbor’s water bill for comparison if you receive an elevated bill. Secondly, search inside and outside your house for moldy smells, leaky faucets, hoses, or running toilets to figure out a potential leak. Next, shut the water off and check your meter. If the meter is still spinning, then there’s a problem with your plumbing system.
Detecting water bill spikes unearths water-related issues in your home. Identifying the anomalies will not only improve your sewer system but also save you money.
Unique Insights: Overlooked Signs and Causes
While there are common signs and causes of sewer line issues, people rarely talk about less obvious perspectives. Some uncommon sewer damage causes are highlighted below.
- Flooding: Seasonal weather changes such as flooding cause seasonal sewer line problems. To mitigate this, get a sewer line inspection after flooding to diagnose clogs and clear residue.
- Construction equipment: Using construction equipment on your lawn may interfere with the plumbing system. Since sewer lines are buried underground, construction and excavation machinery may cause cracks or fractures.
- Bad flushing habits: Flushing non-flushable objects, including sanitary pads and diapers, is a leading cause of plumbing problems. A study shows that 99% of materials causing sewage clogs should never have been flushed.
- Pipe material degradation: The general wear and tear of drainage pipes damage sewer lines. Additionally, older clay pipes deteriorate faster than modern PVC pipes, causing a breakdown in your plumbing system.
Repair Options: What Homeowners Should Know
There are various sewer line repair options. However, the trenchless and traditional methods remain the most popular. Let’s explore these methods more deeply.
1. Traditional sewer Repair
Traditional sewer repair methods include digging the ground above and around the damaged pipe for the plumber to access and restore it. This method is advantageous as it can handle any sewer problem effectively. While it’s the most popular method for homeowners, the excavation makes it invasive, time-consuming, and disruptive.
Pros
- Universality: Traditional sewer repair can easily resolve any plumbing issue.
- Long-term benefits: This method is intensive and can re-line pipes to last up to 50 years.
- Environment conservation: The method protects the environment because it doesn’t use lead pipes for repairs.
- Pipe re-installation: With the traditional repair methods, you can correct sewer line problems through reinstallation.
Cons
- Outside repairs require digging and excavations, making the method invasive.
- The total cost of repairs is higher for traditional methods compared to other options because of additional factors, including landscaping and property restoration.
- The traditional sewer repair method is tedious and time-consuming.
2. Trenchless sewer repair
One of the trenchless sewer repair benefits is its efficiency for homeowners. The trenchless repair method utilizes modern technology to repair pipes affordably. This option includes two methods: pipelining and pipe bursting.
Pipelining entails a plumber inserting a resin-coated tube into the damaged pipe. Next, they inflate the tube to harden the resin and create a lining that looks like a new pipe within the damaged one.
Pipe bursting is the second trenchless repair method. Here, a licensed plumber uses equipment that breaks the old pipe apart and simultaneously replaces it with a new one.
Pros
- Time–saving: Plumbers complete trenchless repairs within 24 hours.
- Safety: With no trenches required, you don’t have to deal with risky open trenches.
- Cost efficiency: The cost of repair and restoration is lower.
- Non-invasive: This method doesn’t require digging or excavation, making it non-invasive.
- Sustainable repairs: Trenchless repairs produce long-term results.
Cons
- Pipe relining reduces the size of your pipes over time.
- The method is not suitable for severely damaged pipes or old ones.
- Only experienced plumbers can use the trenchless sewer line repair method.
Schedule a sewer line inspection to know which method suits your needs. Our team of experts has the required equipment to diagnose your sewer problems before they escalate and provide affordable solutions.
FAQs
How do I know if I need sewer line repairs?
Recognizing sewer issues early saves you time and money. Warning signs and symptoms that you’re in need of sewer repair include elevated water bill, bad odor, wet spots or puddles on your lawn, clogging of various plumbing fixtures, and backed-up fixtures, including toilets, kitchen sinks, and bathtubs.
Are trenchless sewer repairs effective?
Trenchless sewer repairs are highly effective. In addition to its no-dig repair benefits, this method is cost-effective, time-saving, less disruptive, and non-intrusive. Unlike traditional sewer repair methods, trenchless sewer effectiveness stems from using modern technology and equipment when repairing pipes.
What’s the average cost of sewer line repairs?
The average cost of repairing sewer lines ranges from $650 -$4,000. However, the specific sewer line repair cost depends on several factors, including pipe type, sewer line location and accessibility, problem type, the extent of damage, linear footage of your sewer line, and square footage.
Meta Description: Learn the key signs of sewer line problems. Discover early detection tips, repair options, and when to call a professional. Protect your home from costly repairs.
