A camera does not just find the clog. It tells you what the whole line is doing, and where.
A sewer camera is a lens on a flexible cable, fed down the line from a cleanout or another access point, sending live video back to a monitor. Its job is to show the interior condition of the pipe, not just whatever is currently blocking it.
Cast iron, clay, Orangeburg and PVC all look distinct on camera, and each ages differently. Cast iron shows scale buildup narrowing the interior over time; Orangeburg shows deformation or delamination; clay shows joint separation; PVC generally shows the cleanest interior but is not immune to joint problems.
A camera does not just show that roots are present, it shows which joint they are coming through, which tells a contractor whether cutting alone will hold or whether that joint is a repair candidate.
A belly shows on camera as a section holding standing water even when nothing is actively draining. An offset joint shows as a visible step or gap between two pipe sections. Both are grade or alignment problems that a camera identifies far more reliably than surface symptoms alone.
Most camera heads carry a small transmitter that a technician tracks from the surface with a locating wand, marking the pipe's path and depth at any point along the run. This is what allows a repair estimate, and any digging it requires, to be based on the actual job instead of a worst-case guess.
Locating also reveals what is close to the pipe at the surface — irrigation lines, other buried utilities, a driveway or footing — which affects both how a repair is done and what it should cost.
Every one of the problems above produces overlapping symptoms upstairs. The only way to tell a root mass from a belly from a collapsed section, without digging blind, is to look at the actual pipe. A recommendation made before the camera runs is a guess, however confidently it is delivered.
Tell us what the drains are doing and we will match you with a contractor who diagnoses before recommending a repair.
Get Matched With a Sewer ContractorTell us which fixtures are affected and how often — we will follow up to size the visit and get a camera on the line.