I just purchased a beautiful historic house built in the early 1920’s. The house was recently remodeled and when we had our inspection, it was a great selling point that this house had PCP piping under the house. Well we have been there for 1 week and have had 2 clogs. The first clog, we thought we needed a new wax ring since it was flooding from the base of the toilet. We turned off the water for about a day or so and fixed the ring. The toilet worked for about 3 days and it happened again. I called our home warranty people and they sent out a plumber to cleaned the pipes, but apparently we still have the clay piping from the backyard to the city sewer lines and our wonderful mature oak tree roots have began growing into the pipe. The home warranty does not cover roots in the pipes and the plumber told me that there is nothing I can do to help prevent clogs except to dig that pipe out and replace it, and the clogs will come back again and again until I buckle down and pay to get it replace. Then he handed me a business card and said his company can do that. I heard from other that this is very expensive and in the thousands. We just sunk every dollar we had into this house and cannot afford to pay thousands of dollars to replace our pipeline. I found a product called RootX that claims that if you dump it in the drain hole with 2 gallon and water and turn off your water for 8 hours, it will foam your pipeline and kill the roots and prevent it from growing back for 12 months. I purchased it because I need to give us some time to save up for pipe surgery. Does anyone know if this works, or is it as the original plumber said, “A scheme to take money from the cheap”? I am not sure if he just told me that so I would get his company to do that job or if I am waiting money on this RootX. Please help, I am desperate.

I think your plumber told you exactly how it is...

Unfortunately, once you have roots growing inside the sewer pipe, there are there to stay. They entered the pipe via Hub joint or pipe has a crack in it and roots grew in right through the crack.

Yes, indeed, these fancy products designed to get rid of the roots - don't really work as good as you would want them to...

You have two choices: Keep preventively snaking the line or replace the sewer. You can snake it yourself. Rent a big snake from Home Depot for 2 hours for $40.00 and keep snaking it until you have the money to deal with the problem the right way.

Yes, sewer replacement is expensive. It certainly goes into thousands. There is also Sewer Relining method. Tom will tell you all about it when he comes in. But again, cost of relining may be prohibitive as well...

Good luck and let us know what you decided to do... Milo

That is exactly what I was afraid of, but I am glad that I got clarification. It has always been my intent to get it fixed, I just cannot afford it this year. This is my first house and boy people are right when they said "welcome to homeownership." I would really be interested in Tom's discription on the snaking and maybe I can do that until I can save up for next year. 1 week and already have thousands of dollars waving me goodbye. It is going to be one heck of a year! But what can I say, I still love the house. Thanks for your help.

Not so fast with the "downers". You do have options. To give you a little breathing space with those roots. 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.
Now let me address the old Terra-Cotta sewer line. Check into a reline job.
I did and it saved me a bundle. No digging up your yard or filling in the ditch.

Let me explain a bit more about my drainage problem and how I repaired it. 54 year old house. The builder used sub standard cast iron in the drainage. The 4" house main was completely ate up on the bottom of the pipe , blocked with roots and welling up in my living room floor. I was sure that the main had broke in two and I would have to jack hammer up the floor and tunnel under the foundation to transition to PVC, pick up the back bath and move the main outside the house but I had to know what was going on under the slab so a friend suggested running a camera down there. There was no distinct break in the main, however,it was completely ate up on the bottom. That's when Rooter Man of Sarasota and Gulf Coast Florida suggested relining the main, (see image). It took a day to clear the roots and pressure jet clean the main. Next day they came back and relined the main with epoxy. I now have a sewer main that will out last me, (50 year guarantee) and the best part is that I didn't have to, tear up my house and the cost was under half of what I figured to take the main outside around the house. Another bonus was that it was done without tearing up or disturbing my house. When they were finished I kept a piece of the epoxy liner to check it out. It was white and had the same thickness of Schedule#40 PVC.
I was amazed at the equipment RooterMan had outside my place. The equipment he had cost upwards of $100,000.00. Hi tech stuff that took a technician to run it. There were 3 men and 2 trucks to do the job. And it was completed in two days. Lottsa difference from the old days when I went out on a sewer call with a Ridged K-60 Sewer Machine and a ladder to get to the roof vent. I just wanted to point out that there's another option besides replacing drainage that the years have ruined. If your pipes are a candidate for a reline job I strongly suggest you look into it before you decide to replace the drainage pipes. I did and saved a bundle in addition to keeping my home intact. Just thought I would share that with you all. Regards and thank you for rating my answer, Tom

As you have been told replacing the sewer is very costly. So here is my suggestion, you can do it or you can hire a plumber to do it for you. What you need to do is get some kind of history about the sewer. Things like is it going to stop up every week or was this just a strange coinsidence, when it does stop up is it in the same spot each time. After several months you will have a little idea about what is happening. Doing this may cost you two or three hundred dollars but it might tell you that you have one trouble spot that can be repaired with ten to fifteen foot of pipe. And then do the complete replacement in a few years when you can afford it.

This old clay pipe sewers can last for many years with little maintenance. A lot of the damage done to the sewer pipe is not from roots growing into the pipe but growing near it especially under it. When the root grows under the sewer it is a very small root and through the years it get larger and displaces the pipe that is sitting on it finially breaking the joint and then leaving a source for the root to enter and get to water.

The problem with Letmetellus solution is that you might find roots entering every joint. I agree with his idea about running a camera through to take a peek. That's what I did to mine.
I was around back in the old Orangeberg and Terra-Cotta days. Back in those days we caulked our clay pipe joints with rags and cement. We would "yarn" a joint with rags so the cement wouldn't squeeze back into the pipe and fill the joint with cement. Over the years the cement would crack and shrink allowing roots to enter. It doesn' take a very large opening for roots to find their way in and one in they expand. Give a reline job some thought. Good luck, Tom

You've lived there a week and this is happening, don't give up on getting the repairs reimbursed yet. This may be the wrong forum...

Did you have the house inspected? You may have recourse there.

In some states, IF the seller or the realtor knew of a problem and did not disclose it you may have recourse. It is not uncommon to go back to the seller in a case like this and ask them to help contribute to the cost of the repairs.

Check with your closing attorney for advice. You may also have recourse here as if the sewer is backed up, the house may technically be uninhabitable, as in condemned. Check with your municipality.

Another option is to talk to the previous owners. They may be willing to work with you. If not, and I hate to do this, you can always file a claim against the previous owners. I'm not sure what your estimates will be but you could do either small claims or civil court. The important thing here is to have it WELL documented now and get several repair estimates. The threat alone may cause them to want to settle.

The banks lawyers have a stake in this as well. Without a working sanitary system the house could theoretically be condemned and they'd lose value.

It's worth a shot.

Good catch by Medic-Dan.
Good solid advice that we overlooked in our zeal to repair the problem. Thanks Dan!

But in any case: I would strongly suggest to invest in Sewer Video Inspection. Stand by the technician and look with him on the screen as he is pushing the camera down the sewer. See if, and where, you notice roots. ASK lots of questions. Ask him to pinpoint location of the sewer as well as where the roots appear. REQUEST CD or DVD of the inspection so you can show it to different Experts in order to get second opinion. Without Video Inspection, everybody is only guessing. Good Luck... Milo

Thanks again for everyone's help. I did have a home inspection and the inspector turned on all the water and let it run, we flushed the toilet and everything. While the water was running, the inspector climbed into our crawl space and viewed the PVC plumbing and he said everything looked great and new under the house. We figured that plumbing was the last thing we had to worry about since the sellers provided us with invoices on all the replacement plumbing they did in 2009 and our inspector said it was new and in really good shape. We had no idea that the new PVC piping under the house was attached to clay piping under ground. The seller was an investor that purchased the house and flipped it. He never actually lived in the house, so our realtor told us that he was protected from having to turn in an owners disclosure form. I swear he must have known because why would he have redone all that plumbing work? Anyway, I do plan on having an estimate from somewhere with the camera so I know what I am looking at cost wise to start saving up. We are trying to go as easy on our sewer system as possible, and I did order that Copper Sulphate foaming stuff and will begin using that to buy some time to save. That was a great idea on the relining and I will ask about that during my estimates. I will also contact our realtor and find out who we would need to contact on this issue, but I am afraid they will just deny knowing about it, but hey it is worth a shot. Everyone has given me such great advice. Thank you!

Hey Kizie,
RooterMan of Sarasota is Marks ( Massplumber) uncle, ( small world) and I';m tight with him. Give me your location and I'll check with "Uncle Mike" and put you next to a company that does relining in your area. Regards, Tom

Fort Worth, TX

Rooter Man, 8013 White Settlement Rd
Fort Worth, TX 76108-1702(Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area)
Phone: (817) 246-2468
Or Rooter-Manxrooterman.com

602 St Charles Ct
Arlington, TX 76013-1368
(817) 460-7878
There's a couple to check out. I'm well pleased with the work done and the 50 year guarantee will out last me. Good luck and let me know what you find out. Tom

Don't be easy on the "flipper." Once you have the video evidence and some estimates you can still sue him for damages. This is not your fault so don't get stuck with the entire bill.

You would have had negotiating power beforehand if you knew the pipes were clogged. It's just not as easy after you buy it.

Talk to your attorney and even if that fails, file in small claims. The flipper may agree to help cover the costs without a trial.