I had some back up into a shower stall and toilet in the basement. I had a plumber snake the sewer line and he told me it was full of roots, that I should hit it with the root eating chemicals which I did that day. Now 30 days later we ran the washing machine and two showers in the morning. Guess what? Back up rears its ugly head again. I called the plumber again and they have the previous service call on file and they state that it’s going to need a lateral line replacement. While awaiting his arrival for an estimate on the dig I went to the roof to check the vents. Shine my light down the first tube and it looks good. But the second, WHOA!! OBSTRUCTION!, about five feet down the pipe. Looks like leaves. So I grab my manual snake and send it down, turning and pushing. I bore a hole through this mess and send the snake all the way down(50ft maybe). Pull it up and the end is all wet. Yet I was only able to penetrate the obstruction with the snake drilling action, so there really only is a ¼ inch hole in the vent. It seems to be decomposed leaves/dirt like substance. I thought when I went downstairs I would have drainage, but there was still standing water in the shower stall.
It drains very slowly, maybe a little under a gallon an hour.
Here’s the question: Do you think it’s the lateral connection (13ft supposedly) to the main clogged with roots or could it be that I need to give that vent stack a proper clean out?