The lateral from your house to the city main is your responsibility. Get matched with a plumber who clears it, lines it, or replaces it.
The sewer lateral is the pipe running from your house to the city main in the street, and from the property line in, it is the homeowner's responsibility, not the city's. Request service and we'll connect you with a plumber who clears blockages, repairs or lines damaged pipe, and addresses root intrusion, a real and recurring issue anywhere a mature tree sits near an older lateral, which describes a lot of Winter Park.
The lateral from your house to the city main is your responsibility. Get matched with a plumber who clears it, lines it, or replaces it.
Winter Park is a Tree City USA community with more than 22,000 oak trees lining its streets and parks. Clay and cast-iron sewer laterals, common on homes built before the 1980s, join in sections rather than fusing, and it is those joints, not the pipe itself, that a root actually exploits. Our full guide below covers the mechanism and the fix in more depth.
Yes. Roots are drawn to the water vapor that escapes through a crack or a loose joint, and root hairs entering at that point expand with enough force to widen the gap and eventually collapse the pipe. It is a slow process, which is exactly why a camera inspection catches it long before a full backup does.
The only sure way is a camera inspection down the line. Warning signs worth getting checked include multiple drains backing up together, recurring clogs at the same cleanout, and gurgling that shows up on a schedule tied to heavy household water use rather than randomly.
Call now or request a quote online and we'll match you with a licensed local plumber, same-day scheduling where available.