It can be difficult for a homeowner to diagnose when there's a problem with their sewer line. After all, it's outdoors and buried deep underground, so there's no way to visibly inspect it. However, if you have any of these problems or all of these problems, there's a high likelihood that there's something wrong with your sewer line. Take a look at these plumbing symptoms of a damaged sewer line.

Sluggish Plumbing

One of the first problems you'll often experience with a damaged sewer line is that the plumbing in your home will become sluggish. Usually, sink drains will still clear nicely because all that's going down them is soap, water, and at most, tiny particles of food. However, you may notice that the drain in your shower, your toilets, and your dishwasher may not be so lucky.

This is because a damaged sewer line will often develop an obstruction if the pipe becomes cracked or broken. Small amounts of water can usually squeeze past, but large amounts of water or other debris may not be able to move past it, and your plumbing can suffer as a result.

Rain Woes

Having it rain outside should never impact your plumbing indoors, but that isn't true if your sewer line is damaged. Rain water can seep into the pipe, causing the water in the pipe to move backwards somewhat. When this happens, it can cause strange, unpleasant smells to rise up out of your drains even if they've been cleaned recently. This is essentially the smell of a combination of sewage and dirty water from rain seeping through the ground before making it to the sewer line.

Sewage

Lastly, if a sewer line develops a big problem and isn't quickly taken care of, sewage can end up coming up the drains in your home. This is especially common in the bathtub.

When a sewer line develops a bad break, it often creates a blockage, as previously mentioned. If this blockage isn't taken care of, then what you flush down the toilet and run down your drains will have nowhere to go except to seep into your yard. This won't relieve the pressure enough to handle all of the waste water coming out of your home, however, so doing something like flushing the toilet may cause waste water to come back up out of your drains. This is a gross and unsanitary problem to have, and you should absolutely call a plumber immediately if it happens to you.

All of these problems can only be tackled by a plumber, so if you're having issues it's the best idea to get help ASAP. For more information on other plumber services, contact a local company.