Before and After
Roots: Dead or Alive?
Roots Killed On Contract
Making safety a top priority, the professional crew sets up and quickly gets to work. They insert a hose from manhole to manhole, preparing to fill the affected sewer pipe with Razorooter®.
The foam is then released, compressing against pipe surfaces, penetrating cracks, joints and connecting sewers. Roots are killed on contact, decay naturally and slough away. Duke’s foam has a thick, shaving cream consistency which is essential to adhere to roots and travel up the laterals. Our exclusive dense foam also packs more active chemicals in the spaces between the bubbles and has a longer retention time. Duke’s applications prevent root-related stoppages for two to three years. We guarantee it.
The Decaying Process
Once Razorooter ® is applied, the roots absorb the chemical, which bursts their cell walls – beginning the decaying process. Dead roots could remain in the pipe for some time. The speed roots decay and eventually slough away depends on the amount of air in the pipe. Some decay quickly, some take more time. As the roots lose their turgidity (the water exits the root), they become limp. The live roots look like little fingers sticking out, and once they begin decaying, they fall on each other and turn black. Decaying roots are the size of your fist. They clump together until they slough off the pipe and are washed away.
Live Roots
Dead Roots
Duke's Guarantee
We guarantee to kill all the roots in every sewer we treat and to eliminate mainline stoppages caused by live tree roots. If live roots are found in a sewer within six months after the application, or if a treated sewer plugs up and floods due to tree roots during the guaranteed period, we will re-treat that section at our own expense or return customers 100% of the payment we received to treat that section of sewer.
Any section of sanitary sewer we treat will not plug up and flood due to tree root obstructions for two years. The guarantee period begins on the date of treatment and ends two years after the date of treatment. When we perform a repeat application within six months of the expiration of the previous guarantee, the guarantee is extended for an additional three years.
