WILL A TREE BREAK THE SEWER PIPE TO GET TO THE WATER OR DOES THE LINE HAVE TO HAVE A LEAK FOR THE ROOTS TO BE A PROBLEM?
WHAT IS A SAFE DISTANCE BETWEEN A TREES DRIP LINE AND A SEWER PIPE? MANY PEOPLE SAY THE TREE CAN SENSE THE WATER IN THE LINE AND BREAK THE PIPE.I THINK WHEN TERRA-COTTA PIPE WAS USED THERE WAS SOME SEEPAGE AT THE JOINTS AND NOW WITH PVC PIPE THE JOINTS ARE TIGHT SO NO WATER LEAKS OUT.

I think there is always a leak first...then the root will grow into the hole...once inside with all the nutrients that a sewer line brings, the roots will grow very rapidly....as far as a safe distance..that varies..an oaks roots will spread further out than a pine which instead has a deeper tap root

First there is no safe distance a tree should be away from your sewer, in our sandy soil I have seen tree roots grow under homes with 8' basements and then into the sewer.
Tree roots will even grow from one sewer to another by way of the city sewer main up into your sewer many, many feet away.

With the new materials and code required connections we can impeade or completly stop a major cause of sewer problems if they are installed per code. The old clay pipe, concrete pipe and orangeberg as well as poorly made connections leaking, are the major cause of tree roots in the sewers and the breaking pipes.



Post Edited (05-21-03 17:33)

Since a tree 10 feet from a house can send roots 15 feet or more under the concrete slab then up through the space between the pipe and the concrete, and finally through the wax ring and into the closet bend, one would have to suspect that the tree can sense the water. The joints on clay pipe were mating molded rubber pieces, which would normally be water tight. The roots grow into the joint and then get larger which either breaks the joint or at least allows larger roots to enter.

Clay pipe and orangeberg were not "water tight" so the roots grew into the pipe. Sewer lines now are plastic and glued, so roots will not grow into them.