Drain lines are the waste disposal department of your plumbing system. All the wastewater generated in your home ultimately ends up inside the drainage system. Drain lines keep your home sanitary and plumbing running, says Keyrenter Northwest Chicago team.
Like all systems, drainage systems need certain conditions to be met before they can work optimally. If the pipes in the system are worn out, clogged, or broken, your drain lines will underperform and eventually stop working.
If this happens, your home will experience several problems, which may show up as direct or indirect consequences of the issues in your drains. However, regardless of how these issues manifest, they can put your family, your plumbing, and your home in danger.
What are the common problems you may see in your home if your sewer line is in trouble?
8 signs that your drainpipes and sewer line need urgent attention
Chronic drain clogs in the home
Habitually slow or clogged drains could be a sign of problems in your sewer line. For instance, if your toilet is slow and the problem keeps returning despite your best efforts to fix it, the actual problem could be inside your sewer line. There is a very real chance that your sewer line may be clogged.
Foul odors from your drains or the yard
Your drainage system has built-in mechanisms that let sewer gases pass through the system without entering your home or escaping into your yard. If there are sewer gas odors in your home, the vents in your drainage system may be blocked, or the sewer line could be clogged. These problems will allow sewer gases that are trapped inside the sewer line to exit through your home.
Multiple slow-draining fixtures in your home
One slow drain in your home is not enough proof that there are problems in your sewer line. However, if multiple plumbing fixtures are draining slowly at the same time, the cause of the problem can usually be found in your sewer line. Since all the drainpipes in your home connect to the sewer line, clogs in the sewer line will also affect the drains in the house.
Strange noises in your plumbing
Strange noises from your plumbing often indicate the presence of trapped air inside your sewer line. As previously explained, trapped air in the sewer line is caused by blocked vents and clogged pipes. If this trapped air escapes through your toilet, it will cause a strange noise every time you flush the toilet. This is the source of the strange sounds in your home.
Soggy or lush patches in your lawn
If your sewer line is leaking, you may see signs of the problem in your lawn. A section of the lawn will be greener, due to nutrient-rich water escaping into the soil in that area. You may also find a spot in your lawn that is perpetually soggy. Thirdly, a leaky sewer line can cause parts of the lawn surface to start to sink.
Recurring plumbing backups
If plumbing backups are a common problem in your home, you may want to have your sewer line professionally camera inspected. These problems are the result of sewer line clogs impeding flow and causing wastewater to build up inside the line. Depending on the volume of water that enters the pipes, this wastewater can overflow into the toilet, sink, tub, or floor drains until it eventually spills into your home.
Pest infestation of your home
Sewer line problems make your home attractive to insects, reptiles, and rodents. If the sewer line is broken, spilled wastewater provides a rich source of food for roaches, centipedes, and so on. A broken sewer line may also cause a spike in the number of mosquitoes on your property. Excessive buildup inside the drainpipes can cause fruit flies to invade your home.
Foundation cracks or house settling
The most expensive and often irreparable consequence of sewer line problems in your home is a damaged foundation. A leaky sewer line can undermine the structural integrity of your building by discharging water into the foundation or the soil beneath your home. This can cause cracks in the foundation or make the soil underneath your home unstable, causing the building to sink.
What should you do if you see any of these problems in your home?
A sewer camera inspection
This lets you see the actual physical condition of your drainpipes without digging them up. A waterproof camera is inserted into the pipes to obtain real-time photos and videos of the pipe channel. This helps your plumber diagnose the problems in the system and also recommend the best solutions.
Professional drain cleaning
This step will remove the buildup causing the clogs and blockages in your sewer line. Professional drain-cleaning uses methods like hydro jetting and sewer rodding, which are capable of removing different clogs from the drainage system: tree roots, sludge, scale, grease, and so on.
Finally, the professional plumber you hire to inspect and repair the issues in your sewer line matters. Your plumber plays a role in the long-term efficiency and durability of your drainage system and sewer line.
A reliable plumber will not only solve the current problems in the system, but they can also help you prevent or minimize future plumbing problems in your home.