60-minute guarantee · Coupon
Later than 60 minutes from call to door?
Here’s $60 off.
No code to remember: tell your plumber or our dispatcher and $60 comes off the invoice. Good 24/7 on emergency calls in our service areas. Guarantee terms
Open 24/7 · 60-minute guarantee
Sewer Line Repair
When a sewer line is broken, sagging or full of roots, clearing it again only buys time. We find the damage with a camera, show you the footage, and repair or replace the pipe — anywhere from inside the building out to the public sewer.
At your location in 60 minutes or you save $60.
The short answer
If sewage is backing up, tell everyone in the building to stop running water, and keep people and pets away from it. Then call us. We clear the line so the building works again, run a camera to find what failed, and give you the repair options and the price before any digging starts — and if it’s backing up now, we’re at your location in 60 minutes or you save $60.
Is this an emergency?
Call now if…
- Sewage is coming up into the basement or the lowest floor
- Nothing in the building will drain and the toilets can’t be used
- The ground, sidewalk or street over the line is sinking or has opened up
Can usually wait for a scheduled visit
- Replacing a root-damaged line that’s still draining
- Adding a backwater valve before the next big storm
- A faint sewer smell that comes and goes
Not sure? Call anyway — we’ll tell you honestly.
Do this right now
- Tell everyone in the building to stop flushing and running water until the line is cleared.
- Keep people and pets away from the sewage — it’s contaminated.
- If the smell could be natural gas rather than sewer gas, get everyone out, don’t touch switches or flames, and call 911 or the gas utility from outside.
Signs you need us
- Basement backups that come back even after the line is cleared
- A sewer smell near a cleanout or the house trap
- Pieces of clay or rusted iron coming back on the cable
- Wastewater standing in the house trap or cleanout
- A soft or sunken spot over the line in the yard or sidewalk
- Lowest-floor toilets that bubble when fixtures upstairs drain
- Rats or water bugs showing up around a floor drain or cleanout
- Camera footage showing a crack, sag, offset joint or collapse
How we handle the call
- 01
Get it flowing
We clear the line first so the building can use water again, even when a repair has to follow.
- 02
Find the failure
A camera shows what broke and where, and we mark the spot and depth on the floor, yard or sidewalk above it.
- 03
Lay out the options
A spot repair, a longer section or a new line to the street — what each one fixes, what it doesn’t, and the price of each.
- 04
Permits and mark-outs
Opening the sidewalk or street needs a permit from the local government, the connection to the public sewer needs the sewer utility’s permit, and every buried utility has to be marked out through 811 first. We build those steps into the plan and keep you posted at each one.
- 05
Repair and prove it
Once the pipe is repaired or replaced, we test it and run the camera again so you have footage of the finished work.
Know your building
Sewer lines in older homes, rowhouses and apartment buildings
A building sewer runs from inside the building, under the yard or sidewalk, to where it joins the public sewer, usually under the street. Who is responsible for it varies — often the owner is, all the way to the public sewer, sometimes only to the property line — and your sewer utility can tell you. In older homes, rowhouses and apartment buildings the pipe is often clay or cast iron, and many have a house trap near the foundation wall. Roots from nearby trees work into the joints, settling ground leaves sags where waste sits, and old iron rusts thin. When the damage is under the street, the street has to be opened, with permits from the local government and the sewer utility.
Two fittings matter a lot in older basements. Where there’s a house trap, it holds a seal of water that keeps sewer gas out of the building — when it cracks, or a cleanout plug on top is loose or missing, the basement smells like the sewer. In many older cities, sewers carry rainwater and sewage together, so a heavy storm can push water back up through the lowest drains even when your own line is sound. A backwater valve on the building sewer lets waste out and closes when the sewer pushes back, so backups that come only in heavy rain call for a valve, not a new line. In an apartment building, every apartment usually drains through that one sewer, so the basement and the lowest units see a backup first.
One visit, whole job
Everything covered on the call
- Root-damaged sewer lines
- Broken and collapsed clay or cast-iron pipe
- Sagging sections that hold waste
- House trap repair and replacement
- Spot repairs and section replacement
- New sewer line out to the public sewer
- New cleanouts for easier access
- Backwater valve installation
- Camera footage before and after the repair
Upfront price, every time
What sewer line repair costs
Where the damage is and how deep it sits drive most of the price. A repair in the basement, at the house trap or just outside the foundation wall is a contained job. Under a yard, driveway or sidewalk, that surface has to be opened and put back; under the street it adds permits from the local government and the sewer utility, protection for traffic and pedestrians, and restoring the street. The pipe material, the soil and the other utilities running nearby matter too.
That’s why we don’t price a sewer repair before we’ve seen the line. After the camera inspection, you get a written scope and the price for each option — a spot repair, a longer section or a new line to the street — before any digging starts, with permits and inspections spelled out.
Honest advice
Repair a section, or replace the line to the street?
If the camera finds one problem — a cracked joint where roots got in, one broken length, one short sag — and the rest of the pipe is in decent shape, fixing that section is the honest answer. It means less digging, less restoration and a sound line.
If the footage shows trouble along the whole run — roots at joint after joint, cast iron rusted thin, several sags or a collapse — fixing one spot leaves the next failure waiting a few joints away. Replacing the line to the public sewer costs more up front but ends the cycle of backups and repairs. We show you the footage and price both, so you can decide.
Mistakes that make it worse
- Cutting roots again and again when the pipe they come through is broken — they grow straight back
- Replacing the whole line when the camera shows one bad section, or patching one spot when the whole line is failing
- Leaving a loose or missing plug on the house trap — it lets sewer gas into the basement
- Drying out sewage-soaked carpet or drywall and keeping it — it’s contaminated and usually has to be removed
Keep it from happening again
- Keep wipes, grease and paper towels out of every drain — they snag on roots and rough old pipe
- Have a line with roots jetted or cut on a schedule until the damaged section is repaired
- If your basement floods only in heavy rain, install a backwater valve and have it checked so the flap moves freely
- Don’t plant trees over or near the sewer line in your yard
The 60-minute guarantee
The clock starts when our dispatcher confirms your job. If we’re late, $60 comes off your invoice. No forms, no fine-print games. Read the terms
FAQ
Sewer Line Repair questions
Who is responsible for the sewer line under the street?
It varies. Often the property owner is responsible all the way to the public sewer, including the part under the street; sometimes the owner’s part ends at the property line. Your sewer utility can tell you which applies to your building.
Do you have to dig up the street?
Not always. Roots and grease can be cleared without digging, and a camera shows exactly where a broken section is, so any opening is small and in the right place. When a pipe under the street has failed, the street does have to be opened, with permits from the local government and the sewer utility.
How do I know if it’s my line or the public sewer?
If backups come only in heavy rain, the public sewer is usually filling up and pushing back — in many older cities, sewers carry rainwater and sewage together — and a backwater valve is the fix. If they come in dry weather, the problem is usually in your own line, and the camera shows where.
What is a house trap?
It’s the trap on the main drain near the foundation wall of many older buildings. It holds water as a seal against sewer gas, and the cleanout plugs on top let the main be cleared. A cracked trap or a missing plug lets sewer smell into the basement, and both can be fixed.
Will a backwater valve stop my basement from flooding?
It stops sewer water from pushing back into the building through your drains, which is how rain-driven floor drain backups happen. It won’t stop groundwater coming through the walls, and while it’s closed you should hold off on running water, because your own waste can’t leave either.
Can you repair just the broken part?
Often, yes. If the camera shows the rest of the line is sound, we repair or replace only the damaged section — and if the whole line is failing, we’ll tell you that too.
More we handle
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