The Importance of Having a Sewer Inspection Before Buying a House

Purchasing a new house is both a happy and frightening time in every homebuyer’s life. On the one hand, you’re getting a new home, but on the other, you have to worry about all of the little things that could go wrong along the way. To alleviate the stress of buying a house with foundation or structural issues, you can hire inspectors to pore over every little detail of the property.

The only problem is that many inspectors neglect to check the sewer line during their initial inspection. For your protection, you may need to hire a plumber to run a camera through your sewer line. Continue reading to learn the importance of hiring a plumber for a sewer line inspection in Colorado Springs, CO:

• Sewer blockages cause big headaches: If you’ve ever had to deal with a clogged pipe, you know that it’s not a fun experience. On top of the awful smell, you have to hire a plumber to come out and unclog it for you. Now, imagine having all of your pipes clogged at once—that’s what it’s like to have a blockage in your sewer line! The smell is awful, and plumbers have to perform extensive work to unclog a blocked line. Trust us, the last thing you want is to buy a house only to realize that the sewer line is blocked.
• Repairs can be expensive: As mentioned above, blockages or any issues with your sewer line necessitate major work from a team of plumbers. They may even have to dig up the yard to fix the line or to clear out some debris. Believe it or not, the average cost of working on a sewer line is about $2,500, with some estimates up in the $4,000 range!
• An inspection is fairly cheap: Instead of coughing up a few grand, you can pay a plumber much less to run a camera through your sewer line. This procedure is relatively quick and doesn’t require any digging or hard labor.

What happens if there’s a problem?

In the worst-case scenario, the plumber finds a blockage or an issue with the sewer line that’ll necessitate repair. Here’s how to go about handling that situation:

• Get estimates: Either you or the seller will most likely have to pay to fix the sewer line. Call some plumbers and try to find the best deal to remedy the situation.
• Determine responsibility: Depending on where the blockage or damage is located along the sewer line, the city might actually be responsible for it instead of the property owner. While you still don’t want to deal with a blockage, at least you won’t have to pay to fix it.
• Negotiate repair costs: If the blockage winds up being the responsibility of the landowner, you or the seller will have to pay for it. It may seem like it should be the responsibility of the seller, but some folks are stubborn. If the seller won’t budge and is making you pay for particularly extensive repairs, you might consider walking away from the deal.

If you’re in the process of buying a house, be sure to call the team at Affordable Rooter for a sewer line inspection in Colorado Springs, CO. We’ll send someone out to ensure there’s no blockage or any damage to the line that could cause problems down the road.

Categorised in: Sewer Line Inspection

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