Lateral Line Blocked with Roots- New Home

[katm]

Hello Everyone,

I am looking for advice regarding a blocked sewer line. We recently purchased the home in Los Angeles county and within 16 days of moving into the home, our sewer system backed up. We live on a hill and the sewer line goes about 120 feet down to the road behind us. The kicker is that the previous owners connected to the sewer line less than 3 years ago and the warranty is nontransferable. The seller of the home inherited the home from his mother who passed away; he sold the home immediately after she died. He stayed in the home while she was ill; however, he was able to wave disclosing information because he had another residence.

Two independent camera evaluations have shown that the line is completely impacted and we must come up with a solution in the near future. I think the culprit is a large tree that is only about 4 feet from the lateral line. I am trying to decide on a good fix (i.e., either sleeving or repairing a section) and I am also trying to decide if it is worth suing the person who inherited and sold the home. We have spent almost $600 just getting the line opened and there is only a small hole in the roots that will close up soon. We have had it cabled twice and it drains only about 20 days. We have received estimates from $3,500 to $4,100 to make the repair. Is there anyone that might be able to offer advice on best solution and the likelihood of a good outcome if we sue in Los Angeles county?

Thanks!

[pushkins]

I cannot speak specifically for LA but I think you'll spend more money in the courts and lawyers than you will ever see. The biggest issue is going to be you need to prove that the previous owner (in this case the son of the actual owner) knew about the issue prior to the sale. As the property was inherited by him, he is in effect the owner at time of sale, however I'm sure his reply will be " I didn't know anything was wrong" , this will be almost impossible to argue out from your side. His stand that he owned another property while living in the house in question is correct, however when he inherited the property he became the owner regardless of where he did or didn't reside, no different than owning rental or investment properties, you don't live in them all but you still have a duty of disclosure for any problems.
Your issue will be to prove he knew of the blockage and that will be almost impossible. (unless you find someone that he told of the blockage prior to closing)
One thing that does surprise me is that you made no mention of any "home warranty" almost all home sales involve a Home Warranty, it's almost a standard on contracts.
If you do in fact have one then they should cover the cost of any repairs required.

[katm]

Response regarding home warranty

Thank you for the response. I think that the burden of proof will be too much for us in this case. My gut tells me they had to encounter problems because the owner was sick for a long time. Although the first plumber could not get the line cleared, he managed to remove baby wipes and hair from the line. I just cannot imagine how they were able to wash clothes or do anything. The sewage seeped into the house when we used the washing machine for the first time. It is just our bad luck.

We have a home warranty from old Republic and they told us that the policy does not cover root blockages.

I wonder if replacing the section in the lateral line is smart with that large tree so close to the sewer line. I wish we could take the lowest cost solution and have the line hydro-jetted. However, my fear is that the pipes will collapse and we will end up having to replace it anyway. I read about dissolving copper sulfate crystals over the line to prevent roots from invading in the future. If this would work, we could buy ourselves some time. We will free up a lot of money when our other house finally sells. It is in Georgia and homes are not moving too fast there. We have had to dump a lot of money into this house and we did not anticipate the sewer line problem. In the future, we will have the money to take down the huge tree.

[pushkins]

If your looking at simply buying time until you have the funds to replace the broken section, you should be able to auger out the line to almost the size of the existing pipe, yes the roots will regrow and you'll have to do it again and again until you replace the break but this will give you some time.
I'm not an expert plumber but we have an excellent plumber that posts on this forum (redwood), wait to see what he suggests.

[katm]

Once again thanks.

It seems that the line cannot be cleared with an auger or at least that is what I was told. Two different plumbers worked on it for an extensive amount of time and the cable could only make a small hole in the center. When we looked at the blockage with the camera after the second time a hole was created, it looked like smooth solid doughnut-appearing mass that encircled the pipe.

[rmw]

Using a jetter with a root cutter is a good option to cleat the line but i am not sure about using copper sulfate to kill the roots may not be legal in California or may kill the tree which would potential have other consequences. I would jet the line and remove the tree as soon as possible.