The pipe halfway to the street was blocked
A customer contacted the plumbing service where I work and I was assigned to help with a job. The residential customer contacted us because the toilet in the master bedroom was not draining. The shower was not ringing either. This is usually a sign that there is a problem somewhere other than the actual bathroom. Both items drain to the same area. As soon as I arrived at the house, I spoke with the customer about the problem and I investigated the master bathroom toilet and shower. The customer authorized me to use a special plumbing camera so I could see exactly where the problem was occurring. I used almost 30 ft of camera before I finally came to the blockage. A tree root had been growing in the same area for a long time. The route was likely from the large oak tree and the customer’s front yard. The tree roots had grown so large that they were blocking the entire drainage pipe. I had to dig up the area and cut away the roots. I told the customer that this type of plumbing issue may happen again in the future, especially with a large tree like that in the front yard. This type of plumbing problem occurs frequently, especially when customers have old metal pipes that are rusty and falling apart. The slightest amount of pressure from a growing limb can often lead to huge issues and problems with the plumbing. The homeowner is certainly going to see a lot more problems like these in the future without some intervention now.