There are a number of wonderful reasons to have trees in your front and backyard. They provide shade during hot summer days, they make the air clean and they can muffle noise pollution. But there is one specific reason why having a tree near your house can be a big problem: their roots can invade your plumbing and cause a lot of expensive destruction.

Tree roots are popular causes of sewer line damage because they can creep into the tiniest of cracks and create a massive tangle. A plumber with years of experience will understand the kind of havoc that trees can wreak on pipes and will have witnessed the extent that roots can reach into a house’s system, even going up as far as the drain. It can cause extensive plumbing problems like leaks or clogs, and it can be expensive to rectify if it goes unnoticed for too long.

For instance, one sixty-year-old tree was estimated to cost a small family in the Greater Toronto Area $10,000 in plumbing repairs because of the length of time it went unaddressed and the intensity of its damage. Depending on the size and proximity of the tree, the effort and money spent on removing roots and restoring the plumbing system could be a major shock for homeowners.

Pipes are a convenient source of moisture when they have small cracks or leaks in their surfaces. Since trees require lots of water to live and grow, their roots will be drawn to the pipes for sustenance. Some scientists have also theorized that roots use sound to locate water by using acoustic cues to detect exactly where the source is — this means they can sense the vibrations of water flowing through pipes that are in the ground. When homeowners use their pipes on a regular basis, nearby tree roots will be beckoned towards them.

 

If you suspect you could have this problem because of clogged drains or sewage backing up, you should call in the experts to take a closer look. We offer drain inspection plumbing services across Toronto to diagnose the underlying cause of the problem and to determine what is the best course of action to take.

The plumber will feed a sewer camera equipped with 200 feet worth of cable through the pipeline to pinpoint the location of the clog. After finding it, they will take a real-time photo and review the footage to see what is causing the obstruction.

Tree roots are commonly revealed to be a problem found during routine camera inspections — other problems include foreign objects being put down the drain, accumulations of toilet paper and collapsed pipes. Using the drain inspection camera is much faster and much less invasive than digging up part of your property in order to check the pipes up close.

When tree roots are determined to be the cause of your plumbing problems, you will need underground repairs as soon as possible. This will require digging into the basement, the front yard or backyard to get to the pipes and remove the ones that have been overtaken with roots.

The pipes will need to be replaced because of the root damage and because of the leaks that attracted the roots in the first place. Older homes could be using clay pipes, which can become brittle over time and are more vulnerable in comparison to other materials. Updating your pipes to ones made of copper, galvanized steel or PVC could prevent this scenario from repeating itself — if you are worried about your old pipes, you should call to get a free quote to see if upgrading your plumbing system fits into your budget.

Unfortunately, the Toronto city council does not approve tree removal when roots cause drain or sewer blockages. If you can find another reason to have the tree taken down, you will need to obtain a permit to injure or remove trees in order to follow the municipal tree protection by-laws. The removal of a private tree with a diameter of thirty centimetres or more will be prohibited without a permit. Ignoring this could result in a minimum fine of $500.00 and a maximum of $100,000.00 per tree.

Once you have gotten the permit, you will need professionals to cut it down and take out the stump so that the roots aren’t a threat anymore. If the experts don’t take it away, you can remove the stump yourself by drilling holes into the top and placing a specialized stump eliminating powder inside. The potassium nitrate in the powder them will soften the wood over the span of several weeks so that you can easily chop it up with an axe. Another way to deal with the remaining stump is to strategically set it on fire until it burns down to the roots. In this scenario, you will have to double-check if this violates any property rules and if the local fire department approves of your decision.

 If you want to have trees in your front or backyard, you need to be aware that they should be removed before they have grown large enough for their roots to reach the pipes — for fast-growing trees, you should do this after a minimum of eight to ten years. It’s best for any homeowner to avoid aggressive and fast-growing tree types like Weeping Willows or Quacking Aspens because they are notorious for causing property damage and having far-reaching root systems.

Go for smaller slow-growing types like Japanese maples, crabapple trees and magnolia trees instead. As a backup plan, you can create short-term root barriers to block them from moving towards the plumbing. Some people use guards made of metal, wood, plastic or layers of compact soil to physically block them, while others use chemicals like zinc or rock salt to discourage them from growing further.

 Large trees can be incredibly troublesome for a yard in an urban setting — they can overtake property boundaries, they can topple over and they can ruin your plumbing when they sense the smallest crack in the surface. Smaller trees and plants are fine for your home garden, but grander species need more space to grow.