The Benefits of a Camera Inspection for Your Home Plumbing System

Your plumbing system is an important feature of your home. Hidden behind your walls and flooring is a delivery system of pipes and valves through which you access your water supply. Your plumbing system is something that you depend on significantly and without it, life can be a lot harder than it needs to be. Unexpected plumbing issues can arise at any time, and when they happen, you want to ensure that you are diagnosing the issue accurately. This is where camera inspections come into play.

You know about camera inspections, and you want to learn more about how they can benefit you. The technology itself is a game-changer and here’s why:

With the old way of doing things, a plumber would need to excavate your yard just to locate your sewer line and inspect it. The job itself was extremely grueling, and it involved a lot of guesswork just to determine the location of a leak or clog in your sewer line. Furthermore, it was costly and time-consuming to restore your landscaping to its original appearance. Video technology, however, now allows you to bypass a lot of the digging and guesswork that the old method entails.

With camera inspections, plumbers can get a good idea of what’s going on with your home plumbing system and they can record the video footage and review it later. The cameras themselves are small and they are attached to a long and flexible cable. You insert the camera into an access point in your plumbing and from there you begin your inspection. The camera will feed the image to a monitor in real-time so that the plumber can watch as the device is navigating your system. It’s a non-invasive way to examine everything and get a better understanding of the issue that’s been plaguing your plumbing system.

Avoid Any Unnecessary Digging

Plumbers, homeowners and business operators all love camera inspections. Why? Because you avoid all the trouble and downsides of having to dig up your property to inspect your sewer line. Think about it – you can get a complete picture of what’s happening inside your plumbing system without having to create a big mess!

All your plumber needs is a small access point for the camera and the rest of the work is fairly simple. You don’t have to resort to digging up entire sections of your yard to simply access your sewer line. It’s a frustrating process that will also have your neighbors extremely upset with you. And if you think we’re exaggerating, try digging a trench in your yard and see how long it takes for one of your neighbors to walk over and find out what’s going on. (Here’s the answer: it usually happens right away.) There are also trenchless methods for repairing your sewer line.

Many leaks often go undetected and you won’t know that they exist until there is standing water inside your home, which is a situation you want to avoid if you can. Camera inspections are an extremely resourceful way to locate those leaks early on and before they get a lot worse. Some leaks are fairly easy to spot, while others are hidden behind walls or underground. These are the kinds of leaks that you should be worrying about.

Camera inspections can pinpoint the exact location of the leak accurately and quickly. The faster you can detect and fix the issue, the better off you ultimately are. If you allow a leak to go undetected and untreated for an extended amount of time, then the consequences could be severe. Leaks can lead to a lot of water damage which will require you to undergo extensive and costly repairs. Discovering those hidden problems early on will help you immensely in preventing any major damage to your home.

Are you curious to learn more about the inner-workings of your home plumbing system? Camera inspections present you the opportunity to get an idea of the current condition of your pipes. It will reveal if there is any major corrosion or buildup as well as detect any weaknesses in your system that you will need to address at some point.

Camera inspections can even determine if a pipe is going to collapse. If this is the case, then you should strongly consider repairing or replacing any areas of your piping that are compromised immediately. Inspections can reveal a lot of things about your plumbing that you would prefer not to know, but think about how much it will benefit you to detect those issues early on. Knowing the current condition of your system will make a huge difference in preventing any major plumbing problems.

Most home inspectors won’t assess the sewer lines. You should always hire a professional plumber to perform a camera inspection before you decide to purchase the home. Think of the cost of the inspection versus what you will need to pay to repair the entire sewer line. It makes a lot of sense to invest in the inspection. This will remove the uncertainty surrounding any home you plan on potentially buying.

If you end up detecting any problems, negotiate with the current homeowner. See if they will pay for the repairs. If not, then you have a lot more leeway when haggling over the price of the home. You also have the chance to back out of purchasing the home as well (faulty plumbing is something many of us want to avoid altogether).

Camera inspections can also determine if tree root intrusion is taking place, which is not one of your routine repairs and will require a more specialized approach to fixing the issue. Tree roots are one of several culprits when it comes to blocked sewer lines. Many homeowners try to avoid removing any trees if they can, but what’s more important – your home plumbing system or that big tree in your front yard? I think we all know the answer to that question.

Want to learn more about how camera inspections will benefit you? Give us a call today and one of our staff members will explain everything you need to know!