As a general rule, I have always recommended that any home that I inspect that has a cast iron sewer line have a video sewer line inspection performed. Sometimes clients follow through with my recommendations, sometimes not. Clients were telling me that they were having a hard time finding someone who performs these services in the area. Accuracy Assured Home Inspectins has just recently aquired the technology to do these inspections at the time of the home inspection to save time and money from hiring a seperate contractor to come out.

On the very first inspection with this new piece of equipment, I was able to find a crack in a cast iron waste line where the pipe passes through a foundation wall of a rowhome on a small alley street here in Philadelphia. The crack is likely due to settlement that has happened in the foundation wall that was noted during the time of inspection. This would have been undetectable by the typical visual inspection conducted during a home inspection. The crack is likely the contributing factor to why the foundation wall was damp and mortar joints were erroding in the area. This information will probably have saved the buyer thousands of dollars in trying to diagnose or repair a leaking foundation wall when this was not the cause of the problem.

A sewer line inspection is sometime referred to as a sewer lateral inspection, sanitary waste line (SWL) inspection, or video pipe interior (VPI) inspection. The inspection is faily simple and straight forward. A clean out plug in the waste line is removed and a special waterproof video camera is inserted down the interior of the waste line. The cable is semi-rigid, but can negotiate bends in the pipe. The camer is pushed down the pipe interior and the image is viewed on a laptop or monitor. Personally I use a laptop so that the entire inspection can be recorded straight to CD or DVD so that the client can recieve a copy to give to thier plumbing contractor or use to negotiate repairs in a real estate transfer.

Other problems that I have come across during inspections include offset pipe joints that will cause an inconsistant flow and retain solids so they are not washed out with the liquids. I have also seen dried drywall spackle in a cast iron pipe from when a DIY home renovator washed tools and buckets out inside the home. Because the property was vacant for some time, the spackeling was able to dry inside the pipe and create a partial obstruction in the waste line. Another problem was a line that had been cracked and partially obstructed by tree roots from a tree planted at the curbline.

Accuracy Assured Home Inspections is the only home inspection company in the area that posesses this type of technology at this time. You can schedule a sewer line inspection to be conducted at the time of your inspection either with us or if you already have a home inspector.