Many home owners have been given this bad news. You aren’t the first and you won’t be the last. Often there is warning as in the line that clogs up frequently every couple of years, and has huge amounts of roots cut out of it. Or, you have been told of having a belly (sag), or, misaligned joint in the line.
The responsibility of repairing your sewer lateral (the line from your house to the city line in the street) varies in different areas. In most locations by my experience the city’s responsibility is limited to the line running down the middle of the street. However, I have seen some places where they cover to the curb, sidewalk, or the edge of the street right of way. A check with your local authorities is a good idea to see what they cover. Some places also offer assistance if you have low income. It pays to get all the information you can from them. You at least need to know where your responsibilities end.
The first step is to have the line cleared if possible with a snake or, a jetter if needed. Then have the line video inspected to determine the full extent of the problems with the line. I would strongly recommend that you are present and witness the video inspection. Ask questions if you don’t understand what you are seeing. The line should be round, dry, joints should be smooth, and all turns should sweep nicely. It should look like a water fun ride at an amusement park. There is really not much to it and you should know when there is something wrong. It is a matter of what you see is what you got. You will know when something is wrong. You may not know what it is but you will know it’s not right. The camera operator should be able to explain what is wrong and the explanation should make sense.
Now the nitty gritty details. Cameras for sewer inspections are expensive pieces of equipment used in a harsh environment and the person operating that camera usually has considerable experience in the field. After the drain-cleaner experienced problems cleaning your line the camera may have been offered free. Nothing is free! Them using the camera had an expected pay off of doing the repair work. They cannot be expected to provide you with enough details on the problem to supply enough information to allow a competitor to bid on the job. Recouping the cost of the camera inspection will be built into the price of the job, as I said, “Nothing is Free!”
Repairs or replacement of a sewer line is not inexpensive. It is a large job requiring, licensing, excavation equipment, safety equipment such as trench boxes, permits & inspections, and sometime highly specialized knowledge and equipment. Costs vary widely in different ares but no matter where you live it is something that getting multiple bids on could save you thousands of dollars. much the same as shopping at several car dealerships before buying a car.
Another possibility is to pay for the camera inspection and get all the information a contractor would need to supply a bid on the job. Then make that information available to several contractors and solicit bids. You don’t have a lot of time on this your line will be failing again soon, so time is of the essence. To solicit bids you will need a full video recording of the line from your house to the city sewer line. Either a VHS video cassette, Mpeg file or DVD is used for this. My preference would be the Mpeg file or, DVD which I will explain in a minute. You will also need the location of the line marked both the physical location and the depth. From your house to the connection in the street. The camera has a secondary function as a transmitter for locating the line. All changes in direction should be marked as well along with some intermediate points on long straight runs. Marking should be done with flags, and or, paint on grass and dirt surfaces, and paint on pavement and sidewalks. If flags only are used for marking on the lawn great care should be taken that they are not moved or, removed.
So many people and companies have entered the electronic age that you may be able to submit the video converted to an Mpeg file, along with photo files saved as a Jpeg files, via E-Mail to several companies soliciting bids for the work. The photos should show the work area and all things near the line that may affect the excavation work. Sidewalks, driveways, HVAC units on a slab, trees, shrubs, patio’s, retaining walls, fences, and sheds are just a few of the obstacles commonly encountered. A written description of the the line depth along the way and any other pertinent details should be included. This will give them enough information ahead of time that they should have the proposal pretty well worked up then come out for a site visit to recheck the information provided and see if anything needs changing before giving you their bid. This can save everybody involved a considerable amount of time.
You may expect bids to come back often with several options ranging from a spot repair, to excavation and line replacement, pipe bursting and pipe relining. You may also expect methods proposed by different companies to be different. You will have to sift through these proposals and bid prices to decide which is best for you then give the go ahead to the winning bid.
[quote]Cameras for sewer inspections are expensive pieces of equipment used in a harsh environment[/quote]
I agree, what is the going price these days to do a line inspection with a camera?
Do they charge by the hour or by the problem?
Let me know when you get a chance,
It varies so much company to company and in different areas I really hesitate to offer any pricing on this. A lot depends on whether they have a vested interest in it I.E. the “Free Camera Inspection” were all you get is a look and a pitch.
Vs.
Complete inspection, locating, marking, recording on a media you can use to solicit bids and save money. I’d say $300 – 600 depending on where you are.
Thanks for the answers!
It all comes down to whether or not the customer can afford the “fix”. I see situations that unfold into bigger ones that the customer should of absolutely replaced that piping and been done with it, not a temporary repair.
That’s why it is so important to get the line cleaned as best as possible and get a full inspection accomplished.
It makes little sense to do a spot repair if there is another problem just down the line.
A full assessment of the line and all the needed repairs need to be taken into consideration.
Yes, unfortunately it often is a budget breaker.
We had our line cleaned just over a week ago, but today it clogged again. The line was probably installed in 1958-1960 around the time this house was built.
WE thought we had isolated the problem to our washer, but that wasn’t the case. It seems that with the clog water is slowly draining so putting more water through the line just causes a leak either at our toilets or at the line access point in our back yard…mostly in the back yard but at the toilets if to much water is going through.
I’m afraid we will have to replace the 50 year old line but we don’t have the money for that…how does payment on work like that usually run?
Hi RL,
Sorry to hear you are having sewer problems.
Traditionally many Main Line problems are first thought to be washing machine line problems because of the high flow from the washing machine usually first signal a restriction in the line.
I wouldn’t count this line out yet based on the information you have supplied, unless You haven’t given me all the information.
Are you on city sewer or, a septic system? If on a septic system has it been serviced?
With sewer line cleaning there are a lot of variables ranging from the drain cleaner didn’t do a good enough job cleaning the line to there being a problem with the line.
Most reputable drain cleaning companies offer a guarantee on their line cleanings I would encourage you to try that approach first.
Getting called back on a line cleaning usually sends up a red flag and the drain cleaning tech tries a little harder the second time around, in addition to looking for possible problems with the line. On my drain cleaning work I had a callback rate of less than 1% but, I can’t say the same for many of the people I have worked with over the years. There are a lot of things that a highly experienced drain cleaning tech can pick up on by using the right size blade on the snake, feeling the cable, and listening to the water in the line.
You may get them to camera the line for free by telling them that you want to see the clean line, which you need to witness.
If you do get the camera thrown in be very careful with what you see and what they tell you it is.
It better make complete sense to you, I always discussed many of the common problems and what they looked like with the customer before doing the camera inspection. I personally liked to let them find the problem instead of me. Some times it took my educated eye to determine what the problem was but, they knew with the quick training course I had given them like in the 3rd paragraph in the above article that something was wrong and I just had to figure out what exact problem was and explain it. Beware of high pressure sales without a perfectly clear awareness of what the problem is.
Even if they just do it again without the camera you will find the majority of the time someone just didn’t do a good enough job the first time. With out the proof of seeing a belly in the line, or a broken pipe with a camera I wouldn’t worry too hard about it yet.
I definitely would not buy a new line or even a repair without a camera inspection.
If it is camera’d and it is determined there is a problem cross that bridge when you get there.
Sometimes homeowners insurance will have coverage for sewer repair/replacements.
You sometimes have to be pushy with your insurance company to get a yes even if coverage exists.
I have had several customers told by their agent they were not covered, then again by the insurance company, then finally talking to a supervisor at the company who said there was coverage.
Companies generally want a deposit before starting, then the rest on completion.
Get several quotes and go with what you consider to be the best one.
Good luck and I hope this helps you.
Redwood