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Sewer Line Repair Begins With Whose Pipe It Is
In short
The run of pipe between a building and the public sewer main belongs to the property it serves, not to the utility, which owns only the main. Where that responsibility ends varies by municipality, and it is the one thing worth establishing locally before anything fails.
Almost everything that goes wrong with a sewer lateral is invisible until it is urgent. The run is buried, it belongs to the property owner rather than the utility, and the first sign of trouble is usually a drain that has been slow for months.
Start with what is likely under your yard
The build year of a house is the single best predictor of what its lateral is made of, and material decides how the pipe fails and what can be done about it. We publish that data for 4,387 towns across 38 states, ZIP code by ZIP code where we have it.
- Clay laterals — fail at the joints, not along the length
- Orangeburg — goes oval rather than cracking, and cannot be rodded back to working order
- Cast iron — loses bore slowly along the bottom of the pipe
- PVC and ABS — rarely the problem; fall usually is
Then work out which question you are asking
- The same backup keeps coming back
- I have been offered a camera survey
- I have a quote and I do not know if it is the right work
- I do not know whether this is mine or the city’s
- I want to know what this costs
Get the run looked at
Tell us your ZIP code and what the drain is doing. We check it against partner coverage and put you through to an independent contractor who works that area. We do not do the work and you are never charged.
Before anybody excavates.A camera survey is a different instruction from a repair, and the order matters. Tell us what the drain is doing and we will route you to somebody who covers your area. No charge to you, ever. Anything else the plumbing is doing can be raised on that call too.
Call (866) 857-3202