Trusted Sewer Camera Inspections in Buffalo and Erie County

When Is a Sewer Camera Inspection Worth It?

Four situations justify one on their own:

• The main line has backed up more than once, or a clog returns within months of professional sewer cleaning
• You are buying a house built before about 1960, where the lateral is the most expensive thing a standard home inspection never looks at
• Someone has recommended excavation or replacement and you want evidence before agreeing to it
• There is a dispute about whether the blockage sits on your side of the property line or the municipality’s

That last point is worth understanding. In most Erie County and Monroe County municipalities the homeowner owns the lateral out to the connection with the public main. Camera footage showing where the defect sits relative to the property line is the evidence you need before asking the city to look at its own pipe.

What We Typically Find in a Sewer Line Inspection in Buffalo and Erie County

We feed the camera in through a cleanout and work it out toward the municipal main, watching live video the whole way. As it travels, we are checking the pipe material, the condition of every joint, whether water is draining away properly or sitting in the line, and how far each problem sits from the house. The locator in the camera head marks the position and depth of anything we find on the ground above it.

Most inspections turn up one or more of the following:

• Tree roots. The most common finding by a wide margin, and usually at a joint in older clay pipe where roots have found moisture and grown into a mat that catches everything passing through.
• Scale and grease buildup. Cast iron corrodes from the inside and narrows the pipe over time, while grease coats kitchen lines and hardens faster in a cold lateral than most homeowners expect.
• Bellies and sagging sections. Standing water sitting in the line long after the fixtures have stopped running, caused by soil washing out beneath a section so waste collects instead of draining.
• Cracked or offset joints. Decades of ground movement through freeze and thaw pulling apart joints that were already weak, which is usually where roots get in.
• Failing pipe material. Older pipe reaching the end of its service life, including materials used in postwar builds that deform and close off rather than crack, and cannot be repaired in sections.
• A sound pipe. Plenty of inspections come back clear, with light buildup and years of service left, which is a useful result in its own right if you are buying the house or someone has already quoted you for excavation.

We give you a plain reading of what is on screen and a recommendation tied directly to it. Grease and scale coating an otherwise sound pipe means the line needs sewer line cleaning, and where the buildup runs the length of the pipe, we will recommend hydro jetting to strip the walls rather than cable a channel through it. Roots at a cracked joint mean we clear the line now and repair the joint to stop them coming back next spring. A single broken section calls for a spot sewer line repair rather than a full run. Widespread deterioration, a collapsed length, or a line that has lost its fall points toward replacement.

We hand over a copy of the footage as well. It is your pipe; it is useful at resale, and it settles any question with the municipality about whose side the problem sits on.

Should You Get a Sewer Inspection Before Buying a Home?

On any house built before about 1960, yes. A standard home inspection stops at the fixtures. It does not tell you that the lateral running under the front garden is original clay tile with roots already through three joints.

A sewer or drain camera inspection before closing shows the pipe material, the condition of the joints, any bellies holding water, and whether roots are in the line. Buyers use that footage at the negotiating table more often than they expect to, and it costs a fraction of what the repair costs after the keys change hands.

Sewer Camera Inspection Services Across Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany

We inspect sewer lines throughout Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Hamburg, West Seneca, Orchard Park, Tonawanda, Grand Island, Williamsville and Niagara Falls. Our plumbers also cover Rochester, the Finger Lakes, Syracuse, Albany and the Capital Region.

The housing across these areas spans more than a century of plumbing, from clay tile laterals under pre-war streets to postwar suburban builds and newer developments. Our plumbers inspect drains and sewers week in and week out, so we know what we are looking at when a joint appears on screen and can tell you what it means rather than simply describing it.

Because we also handle the work that follows, whether that is sewer line cleaning, a spot repair or excavation, the sewer camera inspection is not a standalone report you then have to shop around. We diagnose it, we price it and we carry it out, with the same footage behind every step.

We have branches in Cheektowaga, Hamburg, Rochester, Clifton Park and Brewerton, so the plumber who inspects your sewer line works out of a location near you. Our call center is available 24/7, and we offer Day or Night service when a line backs up outside normal hours.

Schedule a Sewer Camera Inspection with Reimer Today

If your main line has backed up twice, or you are about to buy an older home, book the camera before you commit to anything larger.

Call Reimer to schedule your sewer camera inspection in Buffalo, Erie County, or anywhere across our Upstate New York service area, or book online, and we will confirm your arrival window.

Factory Authorized Trane System Dealer

Reimer is proud to be a Factory Authorized Trane System Dealer and offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. We are so confident that you will be comfortable – not only with your Trane System heating and cooling products but with us as a Factory Authorized Trane System Dealer – that we back it up with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. This guarantee applies If, you are dissatisfied with your Trane System equipment within one year, for any reason.