Tree roots: winter is their growing season
Some of our most common services involve clearing tree roots from sewer pipes and repairing the damage caused by the infiltration of tree roots. The pipes that take a home’s sewer waste away from the building and into the city sewage system are the most vulnerable to tree root intrusion. A tree’s roots can extend into the surrounding area up to 2.5 times the height of the tree, and fan out with hair-like tentacles searching for water and nutrients from the soil. I’ve found tree roots popping up through the ground into my compost heap from a tree 25 feet away: its radar found the higher-level nutrients of the compost and tentacled its way up through the surface!
In the winter, the tree appears dormant because it has shed its leaves and isn’t receiving any energy from the sun. But it still needs water to survive through the winter, so much of the tree’s energy is spent growing its roots in search of water and oxygen (tree roots require oxygen to grow, so they aren’t often found in pipes that are completely filled with water and prefer sewer lines, which have low levels of water in them when not in use). The roots are attracted by the warmth, water, oxygen and nutrients found in underground sewer pipes and are strong enough to reach through joints, cracks and fissures in the pipe. The flow of warmer water through the pipe causes water vapor to escape into the cold soil surrounding the pipe: ringing the dinner bell for the tree.
Once a small tree root gains access, it can enlarge, spread, and create a clog after it expands and traps debris in the pipe. Since it’s out of their reach, there isn’t much a homeowner can do to prevent tree root growth in a home until they recognize that it’s a problem. If your drainage system becomes slow because of a tree root problem, some of the first things you might notice can include a gurgling system from your toilet or wet areas around floor drains after running a washing machine. If the tree root infiltration is low and slow-moving, it can be cost effective for The Scottish Plumber to simply trim the roots from the inside of the pipe on a regular basis- using high-pressure water jetting or a sewer rodding machine.
If tree root infiltration becomes chronic, it might be wise to replace the pipe with a material that is more resistant to tree roots (such as PVC, which has tighter joints that are harder for roots to penetrate), or to re-line the pipe with trenchless technology, where the pipe is re-lined from the inside with a strong, root-resistant epoxy material. This process is often much more cost-effective than replacing the entire pipe, can extend the life-span of an existing pipe for decades, and doesn’t require a yard to be dug up to access the pipes.