Very few home buyers consider sewer inspections before buying a home. They know they should get a home inspection, but the sewer line is almost an afterthought. Yet this is one of the most important inspections a buyer of an older home should conduct because it can turn up problems that can be expensive to fix.

So, what is a side sewer?  A “side sewer” carries wastewater from a building’s sinks, toilets and drains to the public sewer. If you own your home or building, you own your side sewer until it connects to the public sewer pipe.

Reasons to Inspect the Sewer Line

All buyers should obtain a sewer inspection if the home in question is more than 20 years old. The line might be relatively new compared to homes built before 1950, but it’s common for tree roots to clog it up over 20 years or so.

Many of the older homes have sewer lines made from cement sections or clay pipes that are connected. Clay and cement disintegrate and collapse over time. The sewer line can over time have a dip that catches debris or tree roots penetrate the line and breakdown the pipes. A sewer scope inspection is the only way to find out if there are any issues.

How to Inspect a Sewer Line

When you are setting up your home inspections before you close on a purchase, simply call a plumbing company and ask if the contractor can use a camera to inspect the sewer. Your real estate agent should be able to refer several companies to you.

The plumbing company will insert a snake attached to a small video camera into the clean-out. The snake will maneuver the camera through the sewer, and you can watch the resulting images on a monitor. Not only will the plumbing company find out if the sewer line is clean or clogged, but the inspection will also disclose the overall condition of the sewer.

Ask the contractor to tell you what kind of material was used to construct the sewer line. Find out whether that type of material is still considered to be good construction today. Sewer lines can be made up of different materials, including cement, clay, cast iron, and PVC.

The Costs of Sewer Line Inspection

It might cost anywhere from $200 to $350 to have the sewer line inspected by video. It is money well spent, when you consider the cost to replace a sewer line, which can be thousands of dollars or even more. Keep in mind that a property can sit atop hundreds of feet of plumbing.

Common Ways to Repair

If you need to repair or replace, always get multiple bids from licensed and reputable contractors.  Below are the general types of repairs are summarized below:

• Spot repair
  Used where the issue or defect is at a specific location. Examples might be where there is an offset between two segments of pipe, where the pipe has collapsed, or where there are roots that can’t be removed by another method. A hole has to be dug to replace a section of pipe.
• Open cut construction
  Where there are defects in multiple sections of pipe and, therefore, a long length of pipe needs to be replaced. The old pipe is dug up and and replaced. Requires a lot of disturbance to the surface.
• Pipe bursting
  This involves inserting a new flexible pipe inside the old pipe. It requires a pit to be dug for access at both the start and end of where the new pipe is to be located. It is useful in situations where you wish to minimize the amount of surface disturbance.
• Cured in place pipe (CIPP) lining
  A resin-soaked felt tube liner is inserted into the existing pipe, inflated to expand to shape of the existing pipe, and then cured until the resin hardens to form a pipe within the old pipe. Like pipe bursting, it involves less disturbance to the surface.

The time to find out if a sewer is faulty or needs replacement is before you buy, not after the fact.  We hope that we provided you with another ShopTalk Blog article at EducateHomeBuyers.org to help you make smart decisions when purchasing a home.

Curt Tiedeman, 206.650.4202, NMLS License 35554, curt.tiedeman@caliberhomeloans.com

Source: https://www.seattle.gov/sdci/inspections/side-sewer-inspections