Sewer and drain pipes may not be very attractive to you, but tree roots love them. Tree roots are lured towards your pipes because of condensation. Moisture builds up around the pipes, more so in summer because the water in the pipes is much cooler than the surrounding environment . Thirsty tree roots lock onto the trail of dampness and creep toward your pipes.
The roots will grow along the pipes until they reach a crack, they may even pry open a loose joint. Once the pipe is breached, the root will grow into it to take advantage of the nutrient-rich material inside.
As the root continues to infiltrate the pipe it grows a bundle of thin root-masses. These masses make the blockage worse by trapping kitchen grease, food oil, and large pieces of drain debris such as toilet paper.
The tree roots will eventually exert so much pressure on the pipe that they will simply destroy the section that they have grown into. The pipe may crack or burst from the outside, or the pressure of the roots on the outside could cause the pipe to collapse in on itself.
Tree roots are not your everyday drain blockage. Most blockages can be quickly cleaned out by your local plumber. The blockages caused by roots that grow into pipes are much more complicated. Even if a plumber is able to eel out the blockage, there will still be damage to the line.
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