How to Read a Sewer Camera Inspection Report for an Evesham Home
5.0
& Yelp Reviews
Book A Free Estimate
Submit your information below.
Our Reviews
Why South Jersey Trusts The Sewer Kings
Book A Free Estimate
Submit your information below.
Your Report Should Answer Three Questions
A camera goes down the line and a few hours later a video file and a written report land in your inbox. Most homeowners watch the video once and still have no idea what to do next.
A report earns its money by answering three things. What is wrong, where it sits, and how bad it is.
Below is how The Sewer Kings writes those answers after an inspection in Evesham, and how to read the same report from anyone else before you agree to sewer line repair work.
Read it in this order and the decision gets a lot smaller.
What Comes Back After the Camera Run
The camera is a small waterproof head on a flexible cable. It goes in at an access point and travels your line while the screen records everything it passes.
The Video File
You get the whole run, not a highlight clip. Keep the file somewhere safe. It is your before footage if you ever sell the house.
Still Frames of Each Problem
The operator grabs a photo at every spot worth noting. Those photos are what a contractor quotes from, so they should be clear enough to recognize.
The Footage Notes
Each problem is written down with the distance the camera had traveled when it came into view. This is the part people skip and the part that matters most.
Pipe Size and Material
The report should name what the line is made of and how wide it is. Older Marlton homes turn up cast iron, clay and plastic in the same run.
The Recommendation
One or two plain sentences saying what to do and how soon. If that part is missing, the report is not finished.
Ask for all five. The Sewer Kings sends every one of them, because a report that is only a video leaves you guessing, and guessing is what the camera was supposed to end.
The Footage Number Is a Spot in Your Yard
Every note starts with a number in feet. That number is the one thing on the page that tells you where the shovel goes.
Zero Is Wherever the Camera Went In
Ask which access point the operator used. The same break reads as 12 feet from the house and 40 feet from the curb, and only one of those is on your report.
Your Cleanouts Are the Measuring Tape
The Evesham Municipal Utilities Authority calls for a cleanout just behind the curb line, one at every change of direction, and one every fifty feet along the lateral. Those caps are fixed points you can walk to and count off.
Most of That Run Belongs to You
In Evesham the homeowner owns the lateral the whole way, from the house out to the sewer main in the street. A problem at 30 feet is almost always yours to fix, not the township’s.
The Pipe Has a Shape It Is Supposed to Hold
The Authority’s specs call for at least six inch pipe, laid in a straight line at a constant grade of a quarter inch of fall per foot. That is the shape the camera is comparing your line against.
Pace it out on the lawn. If the report reads a break at 38 feet and your curb cleanout sits at 45, the dig lands in your front yard, not in the road.
What the Words Next to the Number Mean
Inspection reports use trade words. Here are the ones that show up on almost every South Jersey lateral.
Root Intrusion
Roots have found a joint or a crack and grown inside the pipe. Light roots catch paper and cause slow drains. Heavy roots fill the pipe and the line backs up.
Offset Joint
Two pipe sections no longer line up. Water drops over a lip at that point, and the lip collects everything that floats past it.
Crack, Fracture and Broken
These three are a ladder, not three words for the same thing. A crack is a line in the wall, a fracture is a crack that has opened, and broken means pieces have moved out of place.
Belly or Sag
A low spot where the line lost its fall and water sits instead of running. A belly explains repeat clogs in a pipe that looks fine everywhere else.
Scale and Grease
Buildup narrowing the pipe from the inside. This is the one kind of finding that often clears with a cleaning instead of a dig.
Infiltration
Groundwater coming in through a joint or a crack. You often see it on camera as a steady drip or a running seam on the pipe wall.
If a word on your report is not on this list, ask what it means in plain English. A report you cannot read is a report you cannot act on.
The Grade Next to Each Defect
Most reports put a number from 1 to 5 beside each finding. That scale comes from NASSCO, the trade association that sets the pipe inspection standard, and 5 is the worst.
Grades 1 and 2
Minor. A hairline crack or light buildup. Nothing to dig up today, worth a look again in a year or two.
Grade 3
The middle. A crack that has opened or roots with a real hold. Plan the work rather than wait for a backup to pick the date for you.
Grades 4 and 5
Serious. A 4 is pipe that has already moved out of shape. A 5 is a collapse, or a hole with soil showing through the pipe wall, which means the yard above it is feeding into the line.
Structural or Maintenance
Each finding is scored twice, once for the pipe itself and once for how it runs. Roots and grease are maintenance. A broken or sagging pipe is structural, and structural is the side that needs a repair.
The Count Matters, Not Only the Worst One
The scale adds up every finding, so forty small ones can total the same as one bad one. Read the list down the page, never only the number at the bottom.
Grades decide the order of the work, not the price of it. Our list of questions to ask a sewer repair contractor covers what to pin down before you sign anything.
If the report points at a dig, the yard is the next question on your mind. Here is how long an Evesham lawn takes to recover after a sewer repair.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions About Sewer Camera Reports in Evesham
Most take 30 to 90 minutes at the house. The video file and the written report follow within hours, so you are not waiting days to find out what is down there.
No, but put it on the calendar. A 3 is a problem with a hold on the pipe, and it gets worse on its own schedule. Call The Sewer Kings at (856) 626-9366 and we will tell you what the footage and the grade add up to.
Yes. Buyers ask about the sewer line, and footage of a clean run answers it faster than any promise. Keep the video and the written notes together in one file.
Do not wait for a sewer emergency. Call The Sewer Kings at (856) 626-9366 for a free estimate, any hour.
Service Areas
Our Excavation Services Available Throughout South Jersey
Atlantic County
Burlington County
Camden County
Cape May County
Gloucester County
Holding a Camera Report You Cannot Make Sense Of?
The Sewer Kings is a family run crew, owned by brothers Mark and Anthony Papaneri. We are licensed, bonded and insured, and we answer the phone 24 hours a day.
Send the report over or book a free estimate. We will walk the footage with you and tell you in plain words what it takes to fix it