I recently had the clay waste pipe under the yard separate where it connected to the house PVC waste pipe. The plumber started by unclogging the problem, then came back the next day to dig, repair, and add a clean-out. All is fixed and working now.

However, he also ran a camera down stream from the clean-out toward the connection with the city sewer and found something he called a "Belly," a depression in the line and also a small root. He wants me to pay a lot of money to dig up the whole front yard and replace 50ft of sewer pipe. There is also a huge tree covering the line. My neighbor suggests just using root killer and wait and see. He says the belly has probably been there for years.

How serious is a belly?

Usually it is the roots that push down your sewer pipe creating low spot.

There is really no other solution correcting this problem other than exposing the pipe ( about 10' before the low spot and 10' behind it) and either lifting it up to its original level or replacing it with new section of pipe. This is usually costly and difference bet. Repairing and replacing the entire sewer run is not that much. Usually, people go for the replacement.

You cannot really do a pipe relining or trenchless sewer pipe installation because these pipes would simply copy the low point as they are inserted through existing sewer.

Roots in your sewer is bad thing. There is really no way of cutting them out completely. Once there, always there. It can be controlled be periodical sewer cleaning and / or putting some kind of "root killer" down the drain. But roots always grow back, and grow very fast.

If you decide to repair or repipe your sewer, use ABS of PVC material. These are glued together and do not allow roots to enter the interior of pipe.

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Originally Posted by Milo Dolezal

Usually it is the roots that push down your sewer pipe creating low spot.

There is really no other solution correcting this problem other than exposing the pipe ( about 10' before the low spot and 10' behind it) and either lifting it up to its original level or replacing it with new section of pipe. This is usually costly and difference bet. repairing and replacing the entire sewer run is not that much. Usually, people go for the replacement.

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But is does it warrant a costly repair or should I wait-and-see ? Should I call another plumber and what should I ask?

Stefan, you always want to get several opinions before you proceed with this kind of work. Did you get a DVD of the sewer inspection? If positive, than show it to other plumbers and see what they suggest.

Also, you may try to "live with it" for few months. See how fast the problem returns. Maybe, it may be more economical for you to have it snaked preventively - once or twice a year for $100.00 a call - rather than dropping 5K on line replacement.

Moreover, please, keep in mind that most of the sewer cleaning companies will not give you warranty on their service call if they find roots in your sewer line.

Let us know what you decided to do... Good Luck !

Let me show you "how to live with it". First snake the line with a cutter blade tip,(see image) to clear the roots. Then if you wish to control roots RootX or Robics Foaming Root Killer that contain Dichlobrnic are two products you could try.
A less expensive way would be to call around to garden supply stores and ask for fine grain Copper Sulphate. Put a 1/2 pound in your toilet and flush it down. Repeat in 6 months.
If nothing clogs passing the "belly" when you flush then I wouldn't concern myself too much. I think your plumber is being overly cautious or perhaps wants you to finance a week in Aruba when he takes his next vacation. A running trap, (see image) is installed in lots of sewer lines and that looks like a belly to me. Hope this helps Tom

I got two more estimates on repairing the belly but neither actually looked to verify the seriousness of the problem. Both were half the price of the first plumber.

The first plumber did not provide a DVD or any other record - I don't think he had the technology.

Now, Stefan, it kind of makes me wonder whether the 1st plumber was truthful with you. I would never trust plumber telling me I have to to extensive repair work w/o actually seeing the problem on the monitor during sewer video inspection. Maybe, it would not be such a bad idea to have it reinspected and obtain "tape" of the actual inspection. Just about every sewer video equipment has the option of recording. Additionally, what supports my suspicion about the 1st plumber is that the other two plumbers quoted substantially more competitive price. It sure sounds fishy to me... Maybe the 1st plumber was too slow and needed to "create" some work for himself?

I did watch the video, I saw the camera pass through a section of water, but I couldn't tell if it was one inch deep or the full 4in diameter of the pipe - That requires more experience than I have. So I don't know how deep the dip in the line is. It seemed pretty short in length though.

The camera was pretty old looking and the monitor was b/w. It looked pre-DVD but may have had one, I wasn't looking too closely.

Ok, Stefan, there should not be any standing water inside your sewer. Sewer lines are sloped and all water should pour away from your house. Now the only question is : what is causing this back up ? Did you see roots hanging from joints during the inspection ? It could be that your maid flushed down the drain paper towel, or wash rag, and that is the cause of your drainage problem. If roots, than: did the original plumber have roots on tip of his cable when he pulled it out of the drain ?

I wish I had a maid! Maybe the kitty put something in the toilet?

The first repair was to remove a blockage and a section of pipe, then replace that section with a clean out.

Next an inspection was done of the rest of the system. That's when the BELLY was identified (down stream toward the road) and a small root appeard on the monitor.

Prior to the repair, the city had blasted the line with a water jet from the street end a few feet toward the hose. This may have emptied the belly prior to the initial camera view.

After the repair, a pool still remains in the pipe, which I'm told is a belly. But this is located between the 6ft depth of the house pipe and the 15ft depth of the city sewer. It may not be serious.

Based on your comments, and others, I think the best option is wait-and-see. I put some root killer in the cleanout last night. In a few months, if nothing else happens, I will have the pipe reinspected and a tape made.