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Street trees block drains
Are these Beautiful Trees in your street?
Liquid amber, London plane tree, Golden Robinia, Hills weeping fig, Brush box.
Every year as they grow a little bigger their expanding canopy adds thousands of dollars to the value to your home, bringing energy saving cool shade from the summer heat, the beauty of the colours of autumn, some, when they lose their leaves, provide much needed natural lighting and in some cases a windbreak in winter.
These same trees help replenish our oxygen supply and bring birdlife in abundance, a place for the kids to play, making your street one of the most sought after in your suburb.
Imagine your street without the trees.
Now if you have lived in your tree-lined street for some time, you will know that there is a downside to having these trees.
Did you know their luxurious canopy is fed by a root system that is fed nutrition from the non-stop supply running through that main artery from your home, also known as your sewer pipes?
Tree roots are growing around the clock; they don’t just grow overnight. They start, finer than the hairs on your head, searching for that hint of moisture or condensation on the top of your sewer pipes. (Condensation is caused as the water running through the sewer is slightly warmer than the pipes and the earth they are laying in).
Their task has been made easier by the trench excavation, breaking up soils to fit the pipes in the first place. Backfill and compaction is still way easier for tree roots to penetrate than virgin soils.
Once the fine hairs get in through the slightest crack in old earthenware or terra cotta pipe joints, they feast on the nutrients available, and grow constantly. They can end up as thick as your arm with a horse tail attached.
Amazing!
We have cut tree roots from sewers that fit this description and up to 8 metres in length.
As the roots grow in length they grow in diameter and can actually crack the earthenware pipes as they grow.
They don’t just grow overnight.
Who knows how a tree thinks?
Once they get in the pipe and have a constant source of moisture and nutrients they will keep coming back for more. Having their roots cut by drain cleaners is like pruning the roots. As any gardener will tell you, pruning makes them grow thicker and stronger. Think hedges or Rose bush.
It’s the same with the root system.
5 Ways to Prevent Blocked Drains
These simple measures will go a long way to prevent roots infiltrating and destroying your sewer pipes
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- Use pipes made of Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for new and replacement drains. PVC pipes are strong enough to repel the tree roots. Experts agree that PVC is the best material for reducing the risk of tree root blockages.
- Don’t plant trees near pipes. This seems simple enough, but many home and business owners don’t realize what constitutes as ‘near’ when we’re talking tree roots. Many Australian trees have roots that have an incredibly wide spread.
- Pick proper foliage. Eucalyptus, for example, can have root systems that spread out as little as 6 metres. Hills Weeping Fig, on the other hand, can have a root spread up to 60 metres.
- Maintain your pipes. Wear and tear, cracks, and leaks can cause nutrient-rich water to seep into the soil around your pipes. This attracts tree roots straight to your pipes.
- Routinely check and clear your sewer drain. Though roots can be attracted to any type of water-bearing line, they are most often lured towards sewer drains. An expert plumber and drain cleaner can come by and clear roots out of your pipes before they become a big problem.
Compare Vaporooter and Stop Tree Roots in Drains.
Blocked drains fixed… Free! What your Plumber doesn’t know
Does your home get blocked drains caused by tree roots? What if I gave you a written guarantee. We’ll fix your blockage for FREE! It sounds crazy, but its true!
It’s a simple process that less than 5% of Australian maintenance plumbers know about. In fact, plumbers don’t want you to know about it ’cause it Stops Tree Roots in Drains. It’s called Vaporooter and it works.
We protect over 328 families who got blocked drains 3-4 times a year before Vaporooter was introduced. Their pipes were blocked by tree roots. Not anymore!
Check out these case studies and learn a little more.
Look inside a clean sewer pipe
Vaporooter is a revolutionary pipe treatment that stops tree root blockages in pipes and drains and prevents further tree root damage.
Watch this 1.58 min YouTube clip of the inside of a sewer pipe to see how tree roots cause blockages. Don’t worry it won’t spoil your lunch!