Your sewer line serves all the drains in your home. Cracks, offset sections, and tree root intrusion can block the flow of wastewater in your sewer pipe and send effluence rushing back into the building. Knowing these seven common signs of sewer line trouble will help you schedule timely repairs.
1. Gurgling Toilets and Drains
If your plumbing system is noisiest when no one is using it, this could be a sign of sewer line problems. Gurgling and bubbling noises coming from sinks, shower pans, tubs, and toilets are often the sounds of slow-moving wastewater as it clears a sewer line blockage.
2. Soggy or Sunken Areas in Your Yard
Whether due to compressed soil, shifting soil, or root intrusion, your sewer line may have cracked or offset sections. As wastewater seeps out of broken sewer pipes, it saturates the surrounding soil. This can create foul-smelling, standing pools of water or leave your yard soggy, sunken, and uneven.
3. Sudden Plant Growth
If you have a leaky sewer line, nutrient-rich effluence is seeping into the ground and attracting tree roots and weeds. Although your household’s waste is rife with contaminants, local plants, weeds, and trees can still make use of it. If the grass and other greenery above your sewer pipe look especially lush, schedule a sewer line inspection.
4. Sewer Gas Odors
Any cracks or other openings in your sewer pipe can emit a rank sewer gas odor. People often compare this smell to rotten cabbage or rotten eggs. If you have sewer problems, you’ll catch a whiff of this scent in your yard, in your basement, or around affected drains.
5. Pest Problems
Untreated cracks in sewer pipes can attract rats and other furry pests. Excess moisture in your yard could bring both flying and crawling insects closer to the building as well. If you have stubborn or recurring pest problems, repairing your sewer line could be the first and most important step in successful extermination.
6. Recurring Clogs
Recurring drain clogs are often indicative of sewer line issues. Sometimes, they mean that waste is encountering obstructions on its way to private septic tanks or municipal sewer systems. Whether they result from intrusive tree and weed roots or built-up sediment in your sewer pipe, you can stave off recurring clogs with sewer line cleaning.
7. Multi-Drain Issues
If all the drains in your home develop foul odors and slow down at once, you’re poised for a whole-house backup. Backups occur when outgoing waste has nowhere to go but back inside. You may need drain cleaning, sewer line cleaning, or sewer line repairs.
What to Do When You Suspect Sewer Line Problems
Even minor sewer line issues can quickly turn into dangerous, whole-house backups that fill building interiors with pathogenic waste. If you spot any of these seven signs of sewer line problems, schedule sewer service right away.
For a fast and effective sewer line repair in Albuquerque, NM, give Ace Heating, Cooling, Plumbing and Electrical a call.