Unsurprisingly, plumbing issues can vary significantly in terms of severity. Some of the time, they can be fixed relatively quickly. While other projects that are larger in scope require more time and effort to get them fixed. Given that we see a combination of the two at our Kansas City-based plumbing company, we try to provide an overview of each here on our plumbing blog. After all, as a homeowner, it’s important to be mindful of each since you never know when a plumbing issue may pop up!
Without a doubt, you can definitely say that each plumbing component serves a key role in its own way. For instance, a water heater is responsible for supplying hot water for the house or building, which is definitely important, right? Nonetheless though, the purpose of most plumbing components doesn’t require too much explaining. With that being said, I won’t go into too much detail as to the general purpose of sewer lines, which will be the focus of this week’s blog post. On the contrary, this week, we will be discussing a tool that’s immensely helpful in finding sewer line issues. A sewer line inspection camera provides you with an inside look of your sewer line and then a plumbing professional is able to locate where the issue resides before creating a plan of action to get it repaired! We’ll discuss a few of the reasons as to why this is so helpful!
Prevent Any Unnecessary Repairs
When it comes to plumbing repairs, there are a few things that I think all homeowners would agree with. You want services that fix the issues, are completed in a timely manner, and to not pay for any repairs that aren’t needed. Those are all no-brainers! I’m going to guess that plumbing repairs aren’t something you want to spend all of your extra money on. So…one of the biggest advantages of sewer line inspection cameras is the fact that they’re perfect for preventing any unnecessary repairs. Given that sewer lines are buried more than a few feet underground, it’s not easy to get eyes on the line and determine if there are any issues or where an issue may reside. Even if you may be noticing some of the warning signs of a sewer line issue, unless you can pinpoint the location of the problem or even see it with your own two eyes, it can be difficult to formulate a plan for fixing it.
That’s where a sewer line inspection camera saves the day! With the ability to get a clear view inside the sewer line, you can see what may be causing the issues and the severity of it, thus preventing any unneeded repair efforts.
Purchasing a Home?
While a sewer line inspection camera can be extremely useful for current homeowners or facility managers that suspect they may have a sewer line issue on their hands, it is also a great tool for any prospective homebuyers. For anyone that’s gone through the home purchasing process, you likely know there are a variety of factors that you’ll take into consideration. Price point, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, home style, location, the list goes on! Having said that, yet another thing to keep in mind would be the state of the plumbing system. After all, who wants to buy a house and be faced with a number of plumbing issues a few months down the road. While many plumbing-related topics will be rather self-explanatory (like the age of the water heater and quality of the faucets), the sewer line is something that’s easy to forget about. After all, you can’t readily get eyes on it, remember?
Well…with the help of a sewer line inspection camera, you can learn a lot about the home’s sewer line, as well as possibly get the advice of the plumber completing the inspection to get their thoughts on the line. Also, if you’re able to get them, a couple of other pieces of information worth obtaining would be the material of the sewer line and if possible, the age of the line. Each of these can definitely help add some clarity as to how long the sewer line may last.
Causes of Sewer Line Issues
Sewer lines can fail for a few reasons, including simply doing so because of old age. In any case, as we’ve referenced throughout this blog post, a sewer line inspection camera provides a clear picture of what’s happening inside the sewer line. Since this allows you to see if there is an issue present, you’re able to determine what exactly is causing the problem in the first place. A common one that we come across quite often is tree root infiltration. Especially in older neighborhoods with larger trees in the front yard, tree roots can find their way through even the smallest of openings and then start to expand, thus putting pressure on the pipes. Another frequent cause of sewer line issues would be clogs or blockages that gradually form over time. For many plumbing companies, a popular service is drain cleaning. While it’s always important to be careful about what you put down the drain, there’s going to be the chance that some things find their way down there that shouldn’t be. This is especially true if you have more than a couple people living in your household. Nonetheless, it’s still worthwhile to know what is capable of causing clogs in the sewer line. The reason I’m mentioning this is because when you run the inspection camera through your sewer line, you’ll be able to see what’s causing the issue. A good example of this would be flushing items down the toilet that shouldn’t be flushed. Your toilet is equipped to handle toilet paper and human waste. Anything else should be tossed in the trash or you run the risk of facing some plumbing problems in the near future.
To sum it up, it’s not hard to see how a sewer line inspection camera could be an incredibly useful tool for a plumber! They are one of many examples in which technology has revolutionized the plumbing industry. Shown throughout this blog post, they serve a number of different purposes and can definitely help in streamlining the sewer line repair process.
Sewer Line Inspection Services in Kansas City
As a plumbing company providing residential, commercial and new construction plumbing services, sewer lines are certainly something we deal with on a routine basis. With that, we’ve definitely had plenty of experience repairing failed sewer lines. Likewise, we always strive to provide reliable plumbing advice to all homeowners, business owners and facility managers that reach out to our team. As a part of this, we take pride in formulating efficient solutions that don’t result in unnecessary work throughout the project. We don’t want you to spend more on plumbing repairs than you absolutely have to!
Evidenced throughout this blog post, sewer line inspection cameras are incredibly helpful for a variety of reasons and one of those has to be their ability to create efficient sewer line repair plans. If you’re concerned that you may have a sewer line problem and would like an experienced plumber to get an inside look at the line, feel free to give us a call at (816) 348-3481.