A sewer scope sends a camera on a cable down your side sewer and records the inside of the pipe, with a counter on the screen showing how far out each picture was taken. It shows roots, cracks, sags, offset joints and blockages, and where each one sits, so a repair can be planned to the foot instead of guessed.
In Seattle, the side sewer from your house to the public main belongs to you, which is why Seattle Public Utilities tells buyers to have it inspected before they purchase a property. These are the things a camera finds in older side sewers, with the jobs where we found them.
1. Roots working in at the joints
Roots are among the first things a camera finds in an older line. They come in as fine threads through a joint and grow into mats that catch everything flushed after them. In Kenmore this August, the camera run through a new cleanout found fine roots about fifteen feet out, right at the joints. In Ballard this spring, a rooted side sewer that was backing up went back to full bore after one visit with the jetter. And in Fremont last December, a six-inch clay line was so packed with roots that two hours of jetting could not clear all of it, so we recommended lining it rather than clearing it every year.
2. Blockages, and exactly how far out they are
The counter is what turns a picture into a plan. In Ridgecrest, Shoreline, last February, Nick and Jeremy ran the camera through a backyard cleanout to find the trouble spot in the stretch of line between two houses, jetted the line, and filmed it again all the way to the city main. The stoppage turned out to be roots at the joint where the four-inch line meets six-inch pipe, and the camera also showed the old concrete pipe badly eroded along its bottom. With the house flowing again, the recommendation was a spot repair at that joint or a liner for a permanent fix. The counter on the screen is what told the crew how far out to work.
3. Sags and settled sections
A sag, or belly, is a stretch of pipe that has sunk below the pipe on either side of it, and on screen it shows up as standing water the camera has to push through. Solids settle in the low spot, so the line keeps clogging there no matter how often it is cleared. In Lake City last February, a settled section of a shared side sewer had to be dug out and rebuilt on a gravel bed, as we describe in a shared side sewer repair in Lake City.
4. Cracked, broken or crumbling pipe
Old concrete and clay pipe cracks with age and ground movement, and once it cracks, soil and roots come in through the gap. The same Lake City job turned up old concrete breaking apart, along with a piece of plastic pipe that had been pushed into one of its bells years earlier and was covered in roots.
5. A failed cleanout
A cleanout is the capped access point that lets a line be cleared and filmed from outside. When one fails, it can fill with rock and debris and become a blockage of its own. That is what Jeremy found at a community building in Haller Lake, where we replaced the failed section and built a new cleanout, as our Seattle sewer line repair page shows.
6. Where your pipe meets the public one
The connection to the public sewer is a joint like any other, and it can fail too, as the Ridgecrest line did at its four-inch to six-inch joint. In Lynnwood this summer, Malikai and Joshua cleared a clogged laundry drain, then scoped the line from its outside cleanout and found the problem at the transition from the four-inch house line to six-inch pipe, which their notes record as the point where the city's responsibility begins on that line. Knowing which side of that point the trouble sits on decides who pays for the fix.
What a Scope Cannot Tell You
A camera shows the inside of the pipe, not the ground around it, so it cannot tell you exactly how deep the line runs or what sits above it, and it cannot see past a blockage until the blockage is cleared. That is why a scope on a backed-up line sometimes comes after a jetting rather than before, and why we locate the line from above before anyone digs.
Questions About Sewer Scopes
Should I get a sewer scope before buying a house in Seattle?
Yes. In Seattle the side sewer from the house to the public main belongs to the owner, and Seattle Public Utilities tells buyers to have it inspected before they purchase. A general home inspection does not look inside that pipe, and a scope during the inspection period shows what you would be taking on, before it is yours.
How much does a sewer scope cost?
Our camera inspections around the Seattle area have run about $250 to $475. Where yours lands depends mostly on access: a scope through an outside cleanout is quicker than one that means pulling a toilet, and a long or partly blocked line takes more time to film all the way to the main.
Can I get a copy of the sewer scope video?
Ask for it. We can send the recording with the estimate, so you, a seller or a second plumber can see the same pipe we saw. Before paying for a new scope, it is also worth asking Seattle Public Utilities whether it already has an inspection video showing the status of your side sewer connection.
Do you need a cleanout to scope my sewer?
No, but it helps. With an outside cleanout the camera goes straight in from the yard. Without one, we pull a toilet and scope from inside, then reset it on a new wax seal. If the line has no cleanout at all, adding one is often worth it, because every future clearing and camera run then starts outside.
Our Recommendation
Have the line scoped before you buy a house old enough to still have its original side sewer, and before you agree to any sewer repair. Ask for the recording, ask where each problem sits on the counter, and ask what the pipe looks like on either side of it, because that is what decides between clearing the line, repairing one section and lining the whole run. If a quote cannot be matched to a picture of your own pipe, ask why.
Book a Sewer Scope
Call to book a scope, or request a callback. We film the line, show you the footage and tell you plainly whether it needs anything at all.
More: sewer line repair in Seattle · sewer line repair · trenchless sewer repair · what sewer repair costs · a shared side sewer repair in Lake City · a Kenmore sewer cleanout · plumbing in Seattle