A maple tree approximately 3 feet in diameter
has grown over a waste water drain. Roto-
rooter could not get through.

My idea is to dig down and install a bypass
around the maple tree.

How far out from the tree should the bypass
go? Is it going to work?

Al wrote:

A maple tree approximately 3 feet in diameter
has grown over a waste water drain. Roto-
rooter could not get through.

My idea is to dig down and install a bypass
around the maple tree.

How far out from the tree should the bypass
go? Is it going to work?

Yes, it will work.
Use 45's, not 90's to form the loop.

Things you'll have to consider though:

If the sewers are deep where you live,
that will be a LOT of digging/trenching
thru heavy root infestation.

If there wasn't much slope to begin with in
the lateral, you'll have to lay the pipe very
carefully to avoid low spots and you'll wind
up with precious little slope to boot.

In olden times, the water service line was
often laid in the same trench with the sewer
(although may be on a "shelf"). You might
get assistance from the utility in locating.
During actual digging, keep a metal detector handy.

The pipe has to be well-supported by firm earth
so that it doesn't droop as time goes by.

You'll probably need a permit for the work
(depending). They may dictate what materials
you are allowed to use.

I would install a Cleanout TEE at the top of
the loop (nearest house) and stub it up to
ground level.

Jim

Speedy Jim wrote:
Al wrote:

A maple tree approximately 3 feet in diameter
has grown over a waste water drain. Roto-
rooter could not get through.

My idea is to dig down and install a bypass
around the maple tree.

How far out from the tree should the bypass
go? Is it going to work?


Yes, it will work.
Use 45's, not 90's to form the loop.

Things you'll have to consider though:

If the sewers are deep where you live,
that will be a LOT of digging/trenching
thru heavy root infestation.

The house is about 100 years old. My parents
bought it in the late 1940s. My mother has a
picture showing the tree when it was about 4'
in diameter. A horse and buggy are in the
picture, too.

This is out in the country. Well, at least
it used to be country.


If there wasn't much slope to begin with in
the lateral, you'll have to lay the pipe very
carefully to avoid low spots and you'll wind
up with precious little slope to boot.

That is my big unknown. Everybody is building
new houses. (How is your new house?) It is
almost impossible to find someone who will do
the job. I had originally thought of a backhoe,
but all I could find was someone with a trencher.
Then I thought maybe a trencher would be better.

I am still trying to figure out how far out from
the tree to start.

The cleanout T is a good idea. Thanks.


In olden times, the water service line was
often laid in the same trench with the sewer
(although may be on a "shelf"). You might
get assistance from the utility in locating.
During actual digging, keep a metal detector handy.

The pipe has to be well-supported by firm earth
so that it doesn't droop as time goes by.

You'll probably need a permit for the work
(depending). They may dictate what materials
you are allowed to use.

I would install a Cleanout TEE at the top of
the loop (nearest house) and stub it up to
ground level.

Jim

"Speedy Jim" wrote in message
...
Al wrote:

A maple tree approximately 3 feet in diameter
has grown over a waste water drain. Roto-
rooter could not get through.

My idea is to dig down and install a bypass
around the maple tree.

How far out from the tree should the bypass
go? Is it going to work?

Yes, it will work.
Use 45's, not 90's to form the loop.

Things you'll have to consider though:

If the sewers are deep where you live,
that will be a LOT of digging/trenching
thru heavy root infestation.

If there wasn't much slope to begin with in
the lateral, you'll have to lay the pipe very
carefully to avoid low spots and you'll wind
up with precious little slope to boot.

In olden times, the water service line was
often laid in the same trench with the sewer
(although may be on a "shelf"). You might
get assistance from the utility in locating.
During actual digging, keep a metal detector handy.

The pipe has to be well-supported by firm earth
so that it doesn't droop as time goes by.

You'll probably need a permit for the work
(depending). They may dictate what materials
you are allowed to use.

I would install a Cleanout TEE at the top of
the loop (nearest house) and stub it up to
ground level.

What Jim said is all very valid, but before I picked up a shovel, I would
make a visit to whatever agency owns the line in the street, and see if it
would maybe be simpler and about as cheap to pick another route, and run an
entire new line, abandoning the old one. A new plastic line is gonna last
longer and give less trouble than an old iron or orangeburg or tile or
whatever line made up of 4-foot sections. Even if the cost is a little
higher, it will likely pay on resale. On an older house, 'new sewer line' is
a big selling point to anyone who had to screw with the sewer in their
previous house. On a rental I own down south, after about the second time it
backed up (crushed due to frost heave), I said the hell with it and replaced
it all, from cleanout to street. Not a problem since.

If a new route is not an option, answer to your 'how far out' question is
'beyond the drip line', since that usually defines the size of the root
footprint. Given how big the tree is, that may be out a ways, so a new route
may be a shorter run than the bypass route anyway. I remember as a kid in
1966, we planted a weeping willow in back yard, a little too close to the
sewer line, as it turned out. Just a twig, shorter than me. By 1972 when
family went broke and had to sell, it was taller than the 3-story chimney.
Never had a backup, though. Guess the root fingers were small enough, or the
line oversize enough, that there was still enough passage for the flow.

aem sends....

On Sat, 02 Apr 2005 15:27:36 -0500, someone wrote:


How far out from the tree should the bypass
go? Is it going to work?

If you go around 3 sides of the tree too close to it, you will cut off
the roots and kill it anyway (worst of both worlds - did the work and
still lost the tree).

You would have to be as far out as the crown diameter of the tree to
be "safe" - you might "get away" with less depending on the health of
the tree, but I am sure not gonna go "out on a limb" for how close -
and I bet neither would any excavating contractor want to guarantee
the tree (at what value for example).

Best would be to entirely re-route the line (as someone else said)
then to try and go 3 sides around. I'd guess you have a sentimental
attachment to the tree, or else cut 'ere down!


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.