Sewage backing up into the house, drains that gurgle together or a patch of wet, smelly ground in the yard can all point to a damaged sewer line. Call us and describe what you see.
This page covers how the line is inspected, the repair options, and who in Richardson maintains which stretch of the pipe.
Feeding a waterproof camera down the line puts the inside of the pipe on a monitor, so cracks, shifted joints, roots and low spots can be seen along with how far down the line each one sits. The repair plan follows from that footage.
Roots in a joint snag debris, which is how a plain clearing can be followed by another blockage. The roots are cut out first, then the camera shows if the joint or pipe has been damaged and needs repair.
A break, crack or offset in one place can be fixed in that place by excavating and replacing the stretch, or by lining it from within, leaving the remainder of the line as it is.
A line that is cracked, offset or root-damaged in several places may be replaced as a whole, by trench or by a trenchless method such as pipe bursting.
By City Council resolution, the property owner maintains the house sewer lateral, which is the pipe between the main and the building.
For an interim period, and for a fee paid in advance, the city installs a two-way cleanout at or near the property line. From then on the city maintains the line from the cleanout to the main, and the owner keeps the section between the building and the cleanout.
State law requires a permit before plumbing in cities of more than 5,000 people, apart from leak repairs and a short list of fixture swaps. Richardson’s permit pages name no separate sewer line permit.
The free sewer line age checker takes the year your house was built and lists the sewer pipe materials that fit that era. It opens on Richardson’s housing figures, so you can set your own build year against the town’s.
Not every sewer symptom is a sewer line problem. Clogs that return are covered under drain cleaning and leaks in the water supply pipes under repiping, and the cleanout section above explains who keeps which stretch of the line. The other services are on the homepage.
Call us to discuss your current issue and how we can assist you. The call is free and you get a free, personalized estimate with no obligation. We're here to help.
Call (855) 321-3426