The Root of the Problem

This weekend Oceana and I were finally able to get to the root of the problem with our plumbing drains. When I say finally – I mean we’ve been having issues with the drains since we bought the place. We’ve snaked the drains and have done some other troubleshooting working our way between the bathroom and the septic tank. But still the problem persisted. This weekend after getting chased off the toilet by an overflowing courtesy flush – I said enough is enough. Yes, I was hiding in the shower watching helplessly as the toilet overflowed.

From snaking the drain, I knew where the issue started. Oceana dug a trench at the problem point and I was expecting to find a failed joint in the drain line there. Nothing. So she trenched further towards the tank. Nothing. So she dug at the connection into the septic tank. Previously I had opened up the lid on the septic tank at the inlet with a chipping hammer as there was only a 5″ access that had jagged rebar sticking out. No good. So I made a larger opening through the concrete and rebar. With that, I was able to snake upstream towards the toilet. Oceana started digging on the outside of the tank here and quickly found the problem.

There was a portion of pipe that had a V shaped cut out that had been glued back in place. I understood immediately what it was – a previous access by a creative plumber who was snaking roots out of the drain. I removed the glued in piece and found a pipe full of roots. Not just the long skinny roots but the small ones that surrounded the skinny ones that had completely filled up the drain pipe. Using gloves, a small pry bar, and some finesse I was able to slowly pull the root assembly out of the drain. It was about 15′ long and nasty as all get out. The last item was to remove the roots between the V-cut and the septic tank. Done. We ran the hose down the plumbing clean out and confirmed that the drain was all clear. Finally! We can now flush with confidence!

This weekend we started taking down the banyan tree. Our neighbor allowed us the use of their dump trailer again. We cleaned up the remaining branches from the tree trimming over the last few weeks and then began on the banyan tree. We cut 4 big branches down on the north side of the tree which opened up the view from the front porch toward the lake. They were around 12″ in diameter and 30′ long. We cut them into pieces and loaded them up in the trailer. Saturday Oceana chipped up all of the branches that didn’t fit into the trailer. The view from the front porch keeps getting better.

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This weekend we continued on with the porch remodel. I finished up the last of the framing on the north side and then installed the OSB board. On the south side, we demo’d the old wood siding and the rotten framing. This side was just as bad as the other side so we ended up temporarily supporting the roof while we replaced the two outer posts. Once the posts were up, we framed in the half walls and installed the OSB board around the outside. Sunday morning I cut and installed the top cap of the handrail on the south side. I ended up using more of the 2×6 material than expected for rot repairs so I wound up a few boards short for the handrails. Oh well. I’ll finish up the north side next week.

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We had a chance to talk to a few of the neighbors again this weekend. It’s nice having everyone stop by and chat for a few. Our neighbors even gave us some organically grown cucumbers!

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