Tradie's colossal five-metre find in backyard water tank prompts warning
Footage of the removal shows plumber Elliot Aisthorpe, from Big Country Earthworks, using an excavator to haul the small plant and its surprisingly extensive root network out of the tank on the Gold Coast property this week.
The shocking five-metre-long discovery is a "great example of why you should never plant trees with invasive roots near your home", he said.
Plumber Trent Piribauer told Yahoo News it's likely the roots had been growing for over a decade, and despite the tank no longer being in use, the damage they cause can be costly if left untouched.
"Once you start to suspect any issues, get them looked at sooner rather than later because once roots start to become a certain size, you unfortunately just have to dig it up," Trent warned. "You can't rely on maintenance machinery after a certain point.
"And when you dig it up, it blows out costs massively."
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While there is great merit in growing trees in your backyard, taking the species and location of the plant into consideration is vital if residents want to avoid costly construction work in the future.
"Don't plant anything root-dense and thirsty along plumbing lines...I recommend just not planting anything along the side of a house," Trent said.
As tree roots are naturally drawn to water, with even the smallest crack in a drainage pipe being enough to attract them, it's best to minimise the chances of plumbing being disturbed by simply keeping trees as far away as possible.
Old-fashioned water tanks, like the one on the Gold Coast property, are slowly becoming obsolete on residential properties. However, anything that holds water can be targeted by roots due to their "magical way of finding moisture".
"From a perspective of being able to avoid this as a homeowner, anytime you are updating your plumbing...it makes sense to have a concrete tank like this pulled down at the same time," Trent told Yahoo.
"When it becomes dilapidated like this the tree is like 's**t, look at all the nutrients. I'm coming in here, baby'."
Several Aussies have learned this the hard way, with a plumber on the NSW Central Coast recently discovering the "largest [root] he's ever seen" in his 20-year career.
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