Sewer & Drain · Nashville, TN
Sewer Line Locating in Nashville
A transmitter on the camera head traced from the surface, so the line and its depth are marked on the ground before anyone digs.
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Sewer Line Locating in Nashville, Tennessee
A transmitter on the camera head traced from the surface, so the line and its depth are marked on the ground before anyone digs.
For sewer line locating, Nashville's Sewer and Drain works across Middle Tennessee — licensed, insured, with the price in writing before the work starts. Drain and sewer crews who clear the stoppage first, then put a camera down the line and show you what caused it.
Why homeowners call
Signs that bring people to us for this
- Sewage coming up a floor drain
- Every drain in the house slow at once
- Gurgling toilet when the washer drains
- Sewer smell in the yard or basement
- A soggy, sunken strip over the sewer line
- Roots back in the line every year
- Sump pump running and running
What is included
What our sewer line locating work includes
- Camera pushed to the stretch that needs finding
- Sonde transmitter in the camera head switched on
- Receiver traced above ground to the strongest signal
- Estimated depth read and written at each mark
- Route marked with paint or flags
- Buried cleanouts and bends found where the camera reaches
- Public utilities left to Tennessee 811 to mark
- Sketch with distances from fixed points on the house
How Sewer Line Locating goes, from cleanout to final pass
Tennessee 811 marks the lines that belong to its member utilities, and your sewer lateral isn’t one of them. The pipe from the house to the public sewer is private, so when the 811 flags go up, it is usually the one buried line in the yard nobody has marked. Locating fills that gap.
The camera head carries a small transmitter, called a sonde, that gives off a signal at 512 Hz. Standing in the yard with a receiver, we find the point where the signal peaks, mark it, push the camera a few feet farther and mark again. Repeat that along the run and the line appears on the grass as a row of paint dots.
Depth readings are estimates. They hold up well on open ground over plastic or clay pipe and less well near metal fences, rebar in a slab, overhead power or a second pipe running close by. Where the signal is distorted we give a range, and anyone digging should expose the last foot by hand.
Most locating calls come before some other project: a fence line, a pool, an addition, a new tree, or a sewer repair where the excavator needs to know exactly where to open the ground. It is also how a buried or paved-over cleanout gets found, which spares the next drain call from starting with a toilet pulled off the floor.
Also available
Other sewer, drain and septic work
Sewer Camera Inspection
A camera run the length of the lateral, recorded, with the distance to every defect read off the cable counter.
Learn moreSewer Scope Inspection
A pre-purchase scope of the house you are buying, with the video and a plain written finding in hand before closing.
Learn moreDrain and Sewer Leak Detection
Leaks in drain and sewer lines found with camera, dye and smoke testing, before they rot a subfloor or wash out the soil under a slab.
Learn moreService area
Sewer and drain calls we take across Middle Tennessee
Our trucks reach Nashville and 100 more towns in 12 counties, and we take sewer and septic calls anywhere within about an hour of the city.
FAQ
Sewer Line Locating: what people ask first
Will Tennessee 811 mark my private sewer line?
Usually not. Tennessee 811 notifies its member utilities, and they mark the lines they own, such as gas, power, water and the public sewer main. The private lateral from your house to that main belongs to you, so it generally goes unmarked, and it is the line a fence post, a pool dig or a new tree is most likely to hit.
How deep is a residential sewer line usually buried?
It varies, but a lateral commonly leaves the house a foot or two down and gets deeper as it runs toward the main, often several feet at the street. Hilly lots, a basement and the depth of the main all change it. Locating gives a depth estimate at each mark, so nobody has to guess before a shovel goes in.
Can a plastic sewer pipe be located from the surface?
Yes, by putting the transmitter inside it. Plastic pipe can’t carry a signal the way metal pipe can, so we push the camera, with its sonde, through the line and trace the signal from above. The only limit is getting the camera in, which needs a cleanout or a pulled toilet and a line open enough to push through.
How do I find the sewer cleanout outside my house?
Look near the foundation on the side where the main bathroom drains, or along the straight path from the house toward the street, for a capped pipe three or four inches across. It is often hidden by mulch, shrubs or a paver. If it can’t be found, or was paved over, we push the camera from inside and locate the line to it from the yard.
Free estimate
Book sewer line locating with our crew
Call or write to Nashville's Sewer and Drain with what the drains are doing; we clear the line first and price any repair from the camera footage.