It's the question every homeowner with a backed-up main line is afraid to ask, because they've heard the horror stories: is this a $400 cleaning, or a $10,000 excavation? The honest answer is that we can’t know until we do a camera inspection.

Start here: most clogs are just clogs

Many sewer backups we see in the west metro are caused root intrusions into clay tile pipes but can also be caused by scale build-up, offsets in the pipe, low areas in the pipe (bellies), or “soft” blockages (e.g., flushing “flushable” wipes).

When it's more than a cleaning

A cleaning solves a blockage. It can't fix a pipe that is structurally broken. You're likely looking at a repair, not just a cleaning, when the camera shows:

a cracked or collapsed section where the pipe wall has failed

a “belly:” a low spot where the line has sagged such that water and waste pool and the line clogs again and again no matter how often it's cleaned

offset joints where sections have shifted apart

severe root intrusions

a pipe so deteriorated that’s incapable of holding its contents

An easy tell from the homeowner's perspective is recurrence. If a line backs up, gets cleaned, and backs up again within weeks or months and/or with increasing frequency, cleaning is treating a symptom of a structural issue that will only get worse.

The camera is the difference between a guess and a diagnosis

Here's where homeowners sometimes get taken advantage of: a company can claim you need a repair without ever showing you why. We don't operate that way. On every main line, we run a camera and you watch the screen with us. If it's roots or grease, you see roots or grease, we clean it, and you're done. If it's a break or a belly, you’ll see that too. We record all of our videos and retain the videos in our customer account records, so we can assess changes in the pipe over months or years for you.

If you do need a repair

If the line needs repair, you have might have a few options. Generally speaking, the earlier you identify a potential issue and repair, the more cost effective it will be. Pipe problems rarely age well. When we inspect your sewer line, we'll explain what we found, show you the live footage, retain the camera footage, and provide potential solutions. If you’d like to purchase the camera footage, you are welcome to do so, but we intentionally retain the footage as part of our customer records, so you don’t have to.

The Lucky Dog rule

We'd rather clean a line for $399 and earn your trust than scare you into a repair you don't need. If a cleaning will fix it, that's what we'll tell you. If it won't, we'll show you exactly why on camera. That's the whole idea behind “Loyal to our neighbors.” Each sewer and property is different though, so it’s best that we evaluate it in person by conducting a camera inspection while you watch, so we can talk through it in real-time.

Want to know for sure? Get the line scoped. Call or text Lucky Dog for a main line cleaning with a free camera look.