Can A Cracked Sewer Line Be Repaired Without Ripping Up Your Yard?
When a sewer line works well, it removes waste and water from your home and delivers it straight into the main sewer of your city. However, when that pipe gets damaged, it can cause serious trouble for you and your home. Cracked pipes can lead to water coming back up the drain, sewage leaking into your yard, or a complete blockage. If you want to find out what's going on with your sewer line but are afraid your yard will pay the price, here's some information that might make you happy.
Equipment
A lot has changed in plumbing over the years. At one time, plumbers would have had to have dug down in your yard just to inspect your sewer line. Thankfully, that's no longer the case.
Plumbers can offer sewer camera inspection services. These small cameras that are threaded down the sewer line from the access point in your yard. From there, they can look at a real-time feed that shows them the inside of your sewer line. This means that at the very least, your yard won't need to be ripped apart for the plumber to find out what's going on.
Checking the Line
The first thing your plumber will want to do is to examine your sewer line thoroughly with one of these cameras. They can use this camera to look for breaks, cracks, blockages, and other kinds of damage, like tree roots invading the line.
If your plumber finds damage, they will make a note of where it is in the line. They may even show you the footage to demonstrate exactly what's going on in your sewer pipe.
Repairing the Line
If a full break has been discovered in the line, unfortunately, your yard may need to be dug up. A complete break often means that a pipe needs to be replaced, which can't be performed without having full access to the pipe. Thankfully, many other kinds of damage can be fixed without doing this.
For example, if your pipe only has a crack, your plumber may be able to patch or weld it shut while watching what they're doing on the camera. This entire process is accomplished by threading equipment down through the pipe so that it doesn't have to interfere with your yard or daily life. Tree roots can often also be removed in this way, and of course, the average blockage can be cleared easily by a plumber.
Minor damage to sewer lines and pipes can often be repaired with the help of a licensed and reputable plumber. Talk to your local plumber about sewer cams to find out if they're equipped to handle this kind of problem without having to dig up your yard to do it.