Sewer lines under Richmond's old streets
We run a camera down the line, you watch the screen with us, and we write down what it found: the root fringe, the offset joint, the bellied pipe. Then we lay out your options in plain words, with the price in writing before any digging.
Roots and pipe
A sewer camera shows a line one frame at a time, with a counter for how far in it is. These are the three things we point at most in houses built from the 1920s to the 1950s, and what each means for you.
A pale mat of fine roots hanging from a joint, like hair in a drain. Roots drink from the line, and they get in wherever a clay joint has lost its seal. Cutting them clears the line for now. They grow back, at a pace that depends on the tree and the joint.
Cut and clear now, then look again with the camera later
Line the section, so roots have no joint to enter
Replace the section if the pipe itself is cracked
Two lengths of pipe that no longer line up, leaving a lip where one meets the next. Paper and grease catch on the lip, and roots find the gap. Usually the soil moved.
A small lip in sound pipe: a liner can bridge it
A joint that has pulled apart: dig and replace that section
A sag where the line holds water, a pool that is still there after the flush. Sewage settles in it and slows down. It is common in old pipe laid on soft ground, and in Orangeburg, a tar-fiber pipe sold from the 1940s into the 1970s.
A shallow belly can be left, and cleaned on a schedule
A deep one is replaced, because a liner follows the sag
These frames are written from typical camera runs. Your own note shows your footage, with its counter in each caption.
The visit
Most people have never seen inside their own sewer line. We would rather you did, because the options only make sense once you have.
Marva calls the morning of, with a window
We find the cleanout and put the camera in; the screen faces you
We stop on each finding and say what it is, in plain words
You get the video and a written note with the distances
The options and the price follow in writing. Nothing is dug until you say yes
Your options
Most lines in older houses have more than one honest answer. We say which one we would choose for yours, and why.
A cutter on a cable takes the roots out of the pipe, and the line runs again.
Right when the pipe is sound and the roots are the only problem
Roots come back, so it is a schedule, not a repair
A resin liner is cured inside the old pipe. It seals the joints, so roots cannot get in, and it needs little digging.
Right for cracks, open joints and a small offset
Not for a collapsed pipe or a deep belly
We open the ground, take out the failed section and lay new pipe at the right fall.
Right for collapsed, separated or bellied pipe
Costs the yard the most, so we say what goes back
Pricing
No figures here, because a sewer line has none until the camera has been down it. These are the six things that decide the number, and when you get it.
A sewer line is priced by what it takes to reach it and mend it, not by the foot from a catalog. Five things move the number most.
How deep the line runs, and how far
What is above it: lawn, sidewalk, driveway, a tree's root zone
The pipe's material and condition
Whether there is a working cleanout
Permits and inspections your locality requires
The written estimate covers the repair, the permit we pull and the cleanup. It does not cover putting back what digging disturbs unless the quote lists it.
Not included unless listed: sod, plantings, a sidewalk panel, a fence
Not included: repairs inside the house
The camera visit has a charge. It covers the run, the video and the written note. If you hire us for the repair, the visit charge comes off the repair. We quote the amount when you book, before the truck leaves.
After 5 p.m. and on weekends the phone goes to the on-call technician. Sewage coming up in the house gets a call back, and if we can come that night we quote the night rate on the phone first. Night and weekend work costs more than daytime. Anything that can wait for morning waits, at the daytime rate.
After the camera visit and before any work, in writing, for the job as written. If you want a second opinion, the video is yours to take to another contractor.
If digging finds a second break, or a different pipe than the camera showed, we stop, show you, and write the change down before we go on.
Sample reviews
“Glenn put the camera in and had me watch. A fringe of roots at one joint and a short stretch that sagged. He told me which one mattered and which one we could leave. The price on paper matched what he said on the porch.”
“Our rowhouse line had been snaked every spring for years. This was the first time anyone showed us why. We lined the bad section, and the quote said what the yard would look like afterward.”
“The note had the footage counter on every photo, so my contractor could find the spot without guessing. Slow first-floor drains, and now I know where the problem is.”
Sample reviews.
The shop
The same people who run the camera write the note. The office answers the phone.
Owner and plumbing contractor
Signs the estimates and reads every camera note before it goes out. If you want a second look at a finding, she is who you ask.
Lead camera technician
Runs the camera and talks you through the screen. He puts the distance counter on every photo in the note.
Office and scheduling
Answers the phone Monday to Saturday, books the camera visit and calls ahead the morning of.
Service area
From the Fan and Church Hill out to the west end, and across Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover. If your street is not listed, call and ask before you assume.
We don't go to Petersburg, Williamsburg or the Northern Neck. For those, call a contractor who is close to you.
ZIP codes: 23220, 23221, 23222, 23223, 23224, 23225, 23226, 23227, 23228, 23230, 23233, 23235, 23060, 23113, 23831
Questions
The pipe. Roots enter through a crack or an open joint that was already there, because the water and nutrients inside are what they are looking for. Taking the tree out does not mend the pipe, so ask us before you pay for removal.
The run from the cleanout as far as the camera goes, the video, and a written note with the distances and what we saw at each. It does not include cutting, digging or repairs. The charge is quoted when you book, and it comes off the repair if you hire us for it.
Some lines stay clear for a year or two and some need cutting every spring. The camera tells us which kind you have, and we will not promise a number we cannot see.
Usually you own the line from the house to the connection at the main, and the utility owns the main under the street. The rules differ between Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield, so ask your utility, or call and we will tell you what the camera shows at the connection.
Yes, where the locality requires one, and we tell you which before you sign. Digging and replacing a sewer line usually needs one. We list the permit in the written estimate.
Book a camera visit
Marva reads every request and calls back the same working day. She will ask where the cleanout is and book the visit.