A general home inspection is visual: it reports what can be seen at the time. The lateral sewer line is a buried, sealed pipe, so it is always excluded from that report.
It can still be one of the most expensive surprises in a home. The owner is responsible for the line from the house all the way to the public main or septic tank, and it often runs under the garage, driveway, garden, sidewalk and road. A repair or replacement can mean digging all of that up, at a cost of many thousands of dollars.
How a sewer scope works
A small camera on a push rod is fed through the plumbing into the sewer line. Grant watches and records the inside of the pipe and reports what he finds between the house and the city sewer tap or septic tank.
What damages sewer lines
- Tree roots
- Shifting soil, settling and freeze-thaw cycles
- Poor installation or unsuitable pipe material
- Old, failing pipe
- Construction damage
- Objects that were flushed and got stuck
Why leaks matter as much as blockages
A blockage can back sewage up into the house. A cracked or broken line can be worse: sewage leaking into the ground can require an environmental cleanup paid for by the homeowner, and it carries bacteria, parasites and molds as well as gases such as hydrogen sulfide and methane.
Escaping water can also wash out the soil under the property, weakening footings and causing settlement or cracks in the foundation. So do you need a sewer scope before you buy? In our view, yes.
