About to close on a house and roots were found in the sewage connection. What are our options? (First time home buyers)

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Treyady

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As the title states, my wife and I are scheduled to close on a home in Washington State within the next few weeks. We ordered a scope after finding out that there were a lot of trees in the front yard before the owner had them removed. There are roots in the line and the plumber quoted us ~1k to jet it.

My wife and I are completely clueless when it comes to anything plumbing related and this is our first home. We really want this house and have tossed around the idea of just having the thing replaced. We do plan on asking for seller credits but surely not an amount that would cover a full replacement. What are our options here? We have the money to do a replacement if need be but is that necessary? Would jetting it be the way to go in this situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. TIA!

Edit: The house was built in 1972.
 
Jetting is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. Find out the price to dig out that section of sewer pipe, and replace it. Whatever the price will be, deduct that from the sales offer on your house. Is there a tree 27' away, where the root intrusion is? If so, you may need to dig that out as well, so think big. The sellers are probably eager to sell, so stick to your guns. You don't want to deal with this on a yearly basis, like I ended up doing because I was young, dumb, and excited to buy a new house.
 
havasu said:
Jetting is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. Find out the price to dig out that section of sewer pipe, and replace it. Whatever the price will be, deduct that from the sales offer on your house. Is there a tree 27' away, where the root intrusion is? If so, you may need to dig that out as well, so think big. The sellers are probably eager to sell, so stick to your guns. You don't want to deal with this on a yearly basis, like I ended up doing because I was young, dumb, and excited to buy a new house.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. There is a tree stump in the front yard that looks to be the culprit. I know that it is impossible for you to give me an exact price but what does a project like this typically cost? Ive looked online and the numbers vary wildly. The house is small (1200 sq ft) and sits about 40ft off the road.
 
Local sewer contractors (even RotoRooter, Drain Patrol and dozens of other plumbers) are your best bet.
They could have told you the depth of the line and that can help determine a price when calling around.
Drain cleaning with a full size cutter head can do a decent job if the tree (assumed dead) and all other living major plants are not going to be a factor in the future.
Jetting really isn't that good with roots from what I can imagine (I've never been around jetters).
 
breplum said:
Local sewer contractors (even RotoRooter, Drain Patrol and dozens of other plumbers) are your best bet.
They could have told you the depth of the line and that can help determine a price when calling around.
Drain cleaning with a full size cutter head can do a decent job if the tree (assumed dead) and all other living major plants are not going to be a factor in the future.
Jetting really isn't that good with roots from what I can imagine (I've never been around jetters).
Click to expand...
 
Breplum is correct good cutter heads will
Clear the roots it also depends on the age and the kind of pipe you have clay,cast iron, jetting will also work in some cases we had a 15" storm drain that was jammed with roots, the drain cleaning co had a special head made with chains on it, another time we had the same co clear a drain with a head that spins,
Another option you have is, once the pipe is cleaned you could have it lined,
A (sock) with adhesive on the outside
Is pushed in I think by compressed air
Then steam is put in it takes about 8 hrs
The finished product looks like pvc and our garuantee was 50 years it can take high temps and there is no digging it can be pricey
 
Geofd said:
Breplum is correct good cutter heads will
Clear the roots it also depends on the age and the kind of pipe you have clay,cast iron, jetting will also work in some cases we had a 15" storm drain that was jammed with roots, the drain cleaning co had a special head made with chains on it, another time we had the same co clear a drain with a head that spins,
Another option you have is, once the pipe is cleaned you could have it lined,
A (sock) with adhesive on the outside
Is pushed in I think by compressed air
Then steam is put in it takes about 8 hrs
The finished product looks like pvc and our garuantee was 50 years it can take high temps and there is no digging it can be pricey
Click to expand...
I like the idea of the adhesive lining. Is this the “trenchless water line replacement” I keep hearing about?
 
Excavation and replacement is the only acceptable solution here. Everything else including a liner is just a bandaid
 
[QUOTE="Treyady, post: 133590, member: 24587" ... We ordered a scope after finding out that there were a lot of trees in the front yard before the owner had them removed...[/QUOTE]

Good catch on the part of the home inspector to link a possible sewer pipe issue with trees in the yard even if the trees have been removed. Equally good that you made the correct assessment that this was worth further investigation and paid attention to your report.

You have saved yourself a lot of aggravation and cost by noting this before you close.

Get several quotes for complete replacement of the sewer line from house to connection and use that as a basis for final price negotiation.
 
Click on that freaky link, and you will probably be ordering missile parts from the Middle East.
Seems like spam.
 
This is what i suggest. get a sewer lining company to give you a price to line the sewer. All that other stuff will not last, we used to say that passing a cutter head through roots was just giving them a hair cut, they will be back.
 
The average sewer I clean costs $150-250 and needs to be repeated about every 2-3 years. Some I clean ever 6 months......
 
breplum said:
Local sewer contractors (even RotoRooter, Drain Patrol and dozens of other plumbers) are your best bet.
They could have told you the depth of the line and that can help determine a price when calling around.
Drain cleaning with a full size cutter head can do a decent job if the tree (assumed dead) and all other living major plants are not going to be a factor in the future.
Jetting really isn't that good with roots from what I can imagine (I've never been around jetters).
Click to expand...
Jetters can cut roots better than cutter heads on your drain machine.

Watch some videos and you’ll be impressed at its power. 👍✌️
 
Oh, I would also consider having someone that has descaling equipment look at the sewer line. When I cut roots before I line, you literally can't tell roots were ever growing into the line. It's a nice way to buy you a few years of not worrying about the sewer line.
 
I think the equipment is expensive. The process I've seen they harden fiberglass and epoxies with steam.
 
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