Is your Outside Drain Blocked and Experiencing Drainage Problems? Tree Roots could be the Cause.

Having a well kept garden can be a real source of pride for home owners and tenants. A garden can be a great place to unwind; to enjoy a BBQ in the summer, to make snowmen in in the winter and a place to send the kids to play if they are driving you up the wall! It's also home to your drainage underground and sometimes these outside drains will block up. If you have trees in your garden or even in your neighbours garden, tree roots could be to blame.

Why Drains? 

Your outside drains are an excellent source of underground water for roots seeking a drink. As a general rule of thumb trees in the UK have a radial root system, meaning their roots can extend up to one and a half times the height. This means that an established tree can already have spread its roots wide and deep underground, right where your drains might be. The depth of the drains is dependant on many factors, but given the reach of the trees root system it's fair to assume that the roots can usually reach the drains. The roots and the drains can exist side by side quite happily, but through years of general wear and tear and shifting ground levels, the drain pipes can develop cracks or the joints can be displaced and that is when the roots can become a problem. Once the smallest shoots have worked their way in they inevitably grow, which is when blockages can occur.

How To Diagnose a Tree Root Blockage

The simplest way to know if you have tree roots in your drains is to order a CCTV drain survey. This is the easiest way to see what's going on in underground drains (without digging them up) and Metro Rod Oxford can help you pinpoint what's causing your drainage problems. We recommend carrying our a home buyers CCTV drain survey if you are moving home, because sometimes the roots are there before problems arise and it's good to nip these things in the bud before they get worse.

How To Treat The Problem

First things first, you do not need to chop down your trees! Not only will chopping down the tree leave the roots behind, but it also doesn't fix the problem in the drains. Once we have determined that the cause of the blocked drain is an ingress of roots, we can use out High Pressure Water Jetting Units with specialised cutting nozzles. Between the pressurised jetting and the cutting nozzles, the roots don't stand a chance and we can remove them from the drains. Once out, the next step is to prevent any more getting in again, and for this we can usually recommend installing a localised structural repair. This is what we call a "no dig" repair, and involves impregnating liner with resin, inserting it into the drain and inflating it, allowing the liner to cure to the existing drain pipes, creating a contiguous, watertight barrier along the pipe. No more roots!

If you require the services of Metro Rod you can get in touch with us in a variety of ways;

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We are always happy to arrange a free site assessment and no obligation quotations for any work you might need. Alternatively, you can call our emergency hotline number on 0800 66 88 00

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