Your sewers get a lot of work – and a lot of wastewater flows through them every day. When it comes to your sewer lines, a damaged pipe can cause severe damage to your home and your entire property and can even negatively impact the value of your home, if you’re looking to sell. Not to mention, sewage is considered a health hazard, so a leaking pipe can affect the health of anyone under your roof – but how can you actually tell if your sewer line is leaking wastewater?

Thankfully, your sewer lines will let you know if there’s trouble, so if you’re dealing with any of the following problems, it’s probably best to just have a professional inspect your sewer lines.

Frequent Clogging And Backups

It's Not Just An Issue With One Room's Drains

If a clog or a backup is only affecting one specific area of your home, it could be that the problem is only in the pipe that services those specific fixtures. But, if you also go to flush your toilet and there is a sewage backup, the problem is probably located in your main sewer line. Drain backups that lead to issues in multiple drains indicate a main sewer line problem, where all of your pipes are connected. If you keep running into the same issues – frequent clogging and backups – even after contacting an expert, you might need a more complex solution.

Slow-Draining Pipes

Not Just One Pipe Drains Slow, But All Of Them

Similar to frequent clogging and backups, a single slow-draining pipe is probably caused by a hair, food or grease blockage from a shower or kitchen sink but when every drain in your home is emptying at a slow rate and basically acting like its blocked, and you’re crossing your fingers it all goes down, it might be something a whole lot more than just your regular old clog. It could be a leak caused by tree root intrusion, misaligned pipe connections or cracks letting in soil.

Embarrassingly Foul Odors

Smelling Rotten Eggs Either Inside Or Outside

If you’re starting to notice a foul smell coming from your drains, most often resembling rotten eggs, there’s a pretty strong chance of a cracked drain pipe on your property. When a sewer line leaks, it creates the perfect setting for bacterial growth around indoor drains and, over time, that can lead to a pretty strong funk – you might even notice it outside, if wastewater is leaking into the yard. A sanitary sewer is always airtight, besides the vent stacks on the roof to allow sewage to travel downhill, so there should never be a strong, rotten odor emitting from them.

Cracks In Foundation

Wastewater Can Impact Your Home And Other Hard Surfaces

When a drain pipe is leaking it can actually cause significant structural damage to your home. Constant dripping could make the ground shift and, as the water pools, it affects the structural integrity, leading to cracks forming in your home’s foundation, a settled foundation or even sinkholes. Your home’s foundation isn’t the only concrete at risk, leaking can also cause buckling in concrete sidewalks, patios, driveways and other hard surfaces around your property.

Excessive Pooling Outside

Keep An Eye Out For Puddles And Concentrated Lush Spots

Seeing puddles around your property after a rain storm is normal but seeing puddles on a warm day, when it hasn’t rained, could indicate a leaking sewer line. That could be from a crack or the line would have collapsed, often evident by a noticeable change in ground elevation. All of that excess wastewater might lead to extreme, or unusual, landscape growth. Those sunken wet spots often create lush spots in a concentrated area – but the bacteria will soon kill the grass.

If your sewer lines are sending you any of these warning signs, it’s time for a drainage inspection! Don’t wait and hope the problem will just disappear, give us a call or schedule an appointment online today – we’ll even come out and assess your situation for free.