Sewage Coming Out of Pipe in Yard
Every pipe in your home leads to a sewer line or a large pipe referred to as a lateral connection. Your sewer line is typically buried under your home and runs into the municipal sewer system at an angle. If your sewer line starts leaking or breaks, chances are you’ll see sewage coming out of pipe in yard. While this doesn’t happen too often, the consequences can be quite severe.
Sewage Coming Out of Pipe in Yard — Symptoms and Fixes
In this post, we’ll discuss some of the causes of sewage coming out of a pipe in your yard as well as the solutions. Ultimately, you should know what to do when you’re faced with such a problem.
How It Happens
If you’ve noticed soggy, sunken areas in your yard, smells, wet spots or sewage coming out of a pipe in your yard, your sewer line may be leaking. Here’s what that means and how to go about it.
Sewer lines will start leaking when they get old, especially if they’re made of outdated materials such as clay. Over time, the water moving inside the sewer line starts to wear away the inner components. Once the pipe is substantially worn out, it will start leaking. If the sewer line is clogged, you may also experience leaking or worse damage. This happens when water struggles to move past the clog in your connection and starts to build up pressure. There are various signs to look out for when identifying a main sewer line clog. As a result, the pressure could burst through the pipe and rupture it.
In some cases, sewer line breaks can be the result of more dramatic reasons such as construction or ground tremors from earthquakes, causing significant leaking all at once. As such, it’s always important to establish the location of your sewer line before performing any excavation projects on your property. Other possible causes of sewer line breaks are tree roots, as they occasionally damage sewer lines by breaking down into and through pipe walls.
Problems Caused by Sewer Leaks
Did you know that the raw sewage in your sewer line is full of harmful bacteria? As the bacteria seeps into the soil, it harms your lawn. And once sewage is on the surface of your lawn, that’s a serious health hazard. Sewage leaking under your property can also damage, warp and compromise your home’s structural integrity. Left unfixed, the water could eventually buckle your deck, patio, sidewalk or driveway. It could also result in permanent damage to your foundation. Besides the smell, the sewage will also help to foster mold and mildew and attract all kinds of pests. The temperature can also impact your pipes and they can burst in warm weather as well.
Bottom Line
Every problem caused by sewage coming out of pipe in yard can get worse the longer you neglect the problem. The best thing you can do when facing a sewer line problem is to call a professional as soon as you can. An expert plumbing contractor will have the right experience and equipment to fix the problem and prevent it from getting worse. You should also then look into getting your plumbing fixtures regularly inspected throughout the year to avoid issues like this from happening to your home again.
