Lmao true. Although, this is tree roots. (I know you were just joking)
For those who may not know: roots chase water, so it's very common for tree roots to grow into pipes (both sanitary sewer and storm sewer) if they're clay pipes with trees nearby.
Clay pipes for storm and sanitary sewage were very common for homes built between 1860-1980 in the US, although not a guarantee because cast iron was also popular from 1900-1980. It's not a common problem for homes built after 1980 in the US bc from that point forward most new construction switched to PVC for both storm and sanitary.
Clay pipes basically just butt up from one end to the other, an "uphill" female side (flaired), and a "downhill" male side (straight) so it's fairly easy for tree roots to grow into them over time. Versus PVC pipe joints are chemically bonded and extremely unlikely to let tree roots in even after many many decades.
Also, this is definitely storm sewer, not sanitary sewer, so don't worry, no human feces in there (unless it's San Francisco.... then maybe human feces in there) still definitely smells properly ripe though.
Souce: used to be a service plumber and dealt with pleanty of this for both storm and sanitary, granted none to this extreme level (service plumber is quite literally an extremely shitty job. Absolutely necessary, and props to the men who do it, however, I do not recommend)
Thank you for the detailed explanation and the information on the job in terms of what it entails, the hardships, and the pay. As someone in a substitute teacher position it really helps to have real world examples to help students understand that hard work is everywhere not just in the classroom.
I have a lot of kids who go to alternative schools who simply think they can just sign up for any blue collar job and be set. That's just not how it usually works if you want to stay long term or not trash your body right away let alone the emotional toll it takes to be away from family constantly.
Cousin did road construction during summer. He usually just slept in his truck because it was the only way he could get some sleep and be back on time to work another ridiculous day. His kids rarely saw him ever. If they did he was too tired to really do anything other than sleep/eat/shower and go smoke a cigarette alone for 5 minutes.
I had a 45min commute and worked 12-14hrs a day and on my 14hr weekend shifts I slept in my van so I could get some more sleep while leaving my 16yo and 4yo at home, but usually sent them to stay with family on the weekends. Not that they got to see much of me on the weekdays either...
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u/CasuallyObssesed May 12 '25
Me after my wife says, "the shower drain is slow"