Home Buyers Advised To Include A Sewer Scope In Any Pre-purchase Inspection

By Author: Drain Solvers
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All experts agree that 2010 is absolutely the best time to buy a house in years, as the housing bubble and recession have lowered prices, sometimes drastically, and mortgage rates are at an all-time low.

However, just because the deal might be incredible, home buyers are advised to rein in their exuberance and guarantee the deal is as good as advertised.

One of the biggest mistakes home buyers make in their due diligence is to accept a cursory home inspection of the usual things - roof, furnace, general plumbing and fixtures - without digging a little deeper into the things that can end up costing thousands once the deal is closed.

The biggest potential problem, particularly in an older home, is the sewer system. Buried underground and susceptible to intrusions like tree roots and excess waste products and paper, not to mention the ravages of age, a residential sewer is critical in the proper operation of the whole home's plumbing system. A sewer that looks to be in fine shape could break at any time, causing a stinky mess inside the home, a disruption of lifestyle, and potentially many thousands of dollars ...
... in repair costs.

There is really only one economical way to insure that the home under consideration for purchase has a sewer system capable of years of worry-free operation: a sewer scope.

A sewer scope, a relatively inexpensive procedure performed by an experienced plumber, involves inserting a cable into the sewer line from the main in the home all the way to the connection with the municipal sewer or a septic tank. On the end of the cable is a tiny television camera that scopes the passage and detects blockage, breaks and potential clogs in the line. These images are recorded on tape or digitally and may be reviewed by the homeowner and prospective buyer to verify the condition of the sewer line.

A sewer scope can detect any size problem and form the basis of any necessary fix or repair. For instance, it might just be a minor blockage that could be remedied by a rooter service, where the inside of the line is simply reamed clean. For more extensive problems, especially age-related, some plumbers offer a trenchless sewer line replacement service where a new, modern sewer line is inserted within the old one, allowing for a new line without digging. At the extreme end, a completely broken sewer line may need to be replaced, a procedure requiring digging up the old line and replacing it with modern piping.

A broken or blocked sewer line can lead to an unnecessary expense and disruption for a new home owner, a situation that can be avoided with minimal cost with a pre-purchase sewer scope performed by an experienced professional plumber. If there is a problem, a potential buyer can ask the seller to address the issue, use the information gleaned to re-negotiate the selling price, or simply walk away.

Or, the sewer scope will confirm that everything about the sewer line is just fine and the purchaser can move on to closing worry-free.

Drain Solvers is an experienced plumber serving the Denver Metro area and Colorado's Northern Front Range with a wide variety of services, including sewer scopes, trenchless sewer line repair and complete sewer line replacement and excavation.