Has anyone experienced (or a plumber/hubby plumber) a kitchen sink that is draining VERY slowly and cannot figure out why? We have used Drano, stuck a snake 15 ft in and taken things apart to try to figure out where the issue is. My Dad says it could be the tree (medium/large in size, around 15 ft from the house) that could have effected the pipes. Also, we bought this house less than a month ago. The sink hasn't been used alot before we moved in (when they moved out they rented it out to one of their relatives who pretty much used the place to sleep) but it has been working fine for the past 3 weeks.
Anyone experience this? Was it expensive to fix? Might it be something else? Yes, we are going to call a plumber and have them come on Friday, but thought I might post here first in case there is something else we can try on our own before calling the professionals... Thanks!
I have not had that particular problem, but I have had many other issues. Do you have a good plumber? I know you said you are going to call one. Send me a message if you need some names of plumbers.
We had a similar problem that eventually lead to a complete blockage. One of the connections in the crawlspace was not done properly. There was a little ledge inside the pipe which caused the material from the kitchen sink to get stuck there. Over time more and more material build up until the pipe was completely blocked.
I called Roto-Rooter to have the pipes rodded. This cost 250.00 Dollar. Then I had the plumber come in to do the repair. I can't remember how much that was.
In conclusion, you'll probably won't have a choice but to get a plumber in to look at the problem since it could be something like we had, or roots, or something entirely different.
When you purchased your house, did the sellers get a home warranty for you? Maybe this problem would be covered under such a policy.
Oh my I think I may have advice for you but it's not good news. Your father may be correct. My husband and I lived in my grandmas house after she passed and we had a beautiful live oak tree about 15 feet from or home as well. It was a large tree and protected by the state because of it's size so it could not be removed nor did we really want to b/ c my grandfater planted it. Anyway the root system over the years grew into the pipes. It was an older home built in the 50's and the pipes were cast iron. As they deteriorated the roots took over the top half of the pipe on the main sewer pipe ( the ones that allow waste water from the kitchen and bathroom to exit the house). They pretty much reformed a sort of new top of the pipe, like the ceiling of a cave with a few pieces occasionally blocking the flow and causing toilet paper/food/feminine hygeine products etc. To sometimes create a stoppage but otherwise allowing drainage- albeit slow drainage- to continue. For years we chalked the problem up to old small pipes and just called the roto rooter guy out to clear the drains and everything would be fine for 3-6 months. Long story short one night the flapper on our toilet decided not to shut and the toilet ran for several hours. The slow drainage caused water to seep from undercthe base of the toilet throughout the house and warped my laminate floors and the hardwoods underneath them I had hoped to one day restore. In looking for the leak that caused the damage my plumber used a scope ( like the ones they use for surgery) to take video of the pipes to see what was wrong. That is how we discovered the root system living in the pipe. Our situation was really expensive only because our pipes were all underneath the concrete subfloor with no crawl space to access them so we had to actually demo out all the floors and baseboards and replace them in addition to running all new pipe on the outside of the house. ( we decided that would be better than cutting trenches through the subfloor and would make access easier in the future)
All in all it cost about 40,000 for out fix though yours may not be as severe since you don't have any interior damage. The Initial plumber assessment where they scoped the drain was 250 dollars and the plumbing job itself for the new pipe was 6000. We had to change several things in our bathroom to meet codes for the work permit for the new pipe installation to be approved which may or may nit be an issue fir you and that was an additional 5000. The good news is be ause we had video from the plumber of the damage to the pipe and of the damage from the leak our homeowners insurance covered a good portion of it. Yours may too depending on your policy. I would recommend two things
1. Find a plumber on the BBB ( better business bureau). One thing I learned the hardway is saving a buck on a contractor can costs thousands if they don't do the Job right or leave the job before completing it. It is very difficult to find another person to finish someone elses work. I cost myself 35,000 dollars having a cheap contractor start a job, he did not finish it and it cost me 65,000 to have someone else ( from BBB) come in and rip out his work and do it right. I would have been better off taking the first 35,000 to the race track or a roulette table on Vegas.
2. Have 2 or 3 of the plumbers on the BBB site come out and give estimates and their bid for the job. Get the scope done first by one of the companies and they will have a copy of the tape for you and you can show it to the others.
The 250 for the pipe scope is well worth the money because you will know once and for all if that is the cause. Do yourself a favor and don't wait like O did and end up with a bigger problem on the long run and a houseful of water! Hope my expense and nightmare can help you to avoid it! Good luck and I hope it's something simple! Any questions on anything I can maybe help with feel free to email me :)
At our old house we had this issue ALL the time! The tree in our back yard's roots would get into the pipes. We rented that house, so I'm not sure how much it was to fix, but yes, it is a possibility.
If you have a social networking site, see if any of your friends can reccomend a plumber to you. Good luck !
Hi L.! Problems with the house already! Geez! We have had tree root problems. We have a huge maple in our front yard. It doesn't really cause the sink issue though, but we've had sewage back up in the basement. We have to have the plumber rout out the main line every five years or so. He also recommended a tree root killer that you put in your toilets and flush into the line. I can't remember the name of it, but I used to get it at Ace and knew right where it was. I'll have to ask what the stuff is. It's supposed to keep the roots killed in the main line. (If you don't know your plumber I have an excellent one who I trust completely.) Good luck with all of this. Hope to see you soon!
We have a very old house, with an equally old "side sewer".
We priced getting a plumber to snake the side sewer (lowest bid, $800)... versus $40 to rent the electric snake with whirling grabbing blades and a neighbor who showed us how to use it. (I'm sure it has a real name... but I always just as the guys at the shop... and they bring out the machine I need, because I have a mental block... for all I know it's called an electric snake).
Yowza... the stuff that was in that drain (from babywipes to unmentionables) that had gotten hung up on the tree roots.
So now we snake it twice a year... pulling out gobs of roots every single time... but to get the side sewer replaced runs 20-40k (where we live we also have to pay the city to tear up the road and repatch it, and a city engineer to plumb it to the house, and AND the home owner has to pay the wages of all the work crews). So replacing the side sewer isn't really an option. And our city has deemed it illegal to repair sections of it, rather than to replace it all the way out to the main that runs down the middle of the streets. Talk about nightmare. Needless to say, everyone in our neighborhood has side sewers in TERRIBLE condition.
Fortunately snaking them is cheap and fast (about 1/2 an hour).
Mmmm... also... you might give your realtor a call. Since it's within such a short time of the sale, it might be a seller's responsibility thing.
It very well could be tree roots, but the blockage could just be further down the line. The pipe may not be completely blocked, but a partial could make it seem like it is draining slower...it is just far enough away that you don't notice it as soon.
I've had this happen several times and I always snake myself before calling for help. Some hand snakes will hit a big clog and then just wind up on itself when you hit the clog...especially when you get into larger diameter lines.
You can actually rent a power snake by the hour at places like Home Depot with a 1/2" or so line. It is definitely less than a plumber...even if it is a little grosser. Beware though, the piece of equipment weighs over 50 pounds. It is easier to get it started in a larger diameter line so check outside for a clean out where you can stick it in.
when we bought our house it did this. Both of what you were talking about. if its tree roots you will have more than a slow kitchen sink we had feces in our bathtub literally when we bought the house we thought it was due to grandad being old and not being able to clean it. We also had a slow kitchen sink the plumber went up on the roof and snaked the pipe in the cieling over the kitchen sink. trust me there is one there. I think it was an exaust pipe. if that don't work I would lean towards tree roots. good luck
