Sewer & Drain · Nashville, TN
Sewer Scope Inspection in Nashville
A pre-purchase scope of the house you are buying, with the video and a plain written finding in hand before closing.
Estimate request
Tell us which drain is backing up
Sent straight to us, day or night. We respond immediately.
Sewer Scope Inspection in Nashville, Tennessee
A pre-purchase scope of the house you are buying, with the video and a plain written finding in hand before closing.
For sewer scope inspection, 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 scope inspection work includes
- Cleanout or other access found before the appointment
- Camera run from the house to the city connection
- Water put through the line during the scope
- Pipe material identified along the whole length
- Defects recorded by distance from the cleanout
- Video file yours to send to your agent
- Plain written finding a buyer can act on
- Line route sketched for any repair estimate
How Sewer Scope Inspection goes, from cleanout to final pass
A general home inspection runs water at the fixtures and watches it leave. It doesn’t look inside the buried pipe, and drains can empty normally for months while the line under the yard is cracked, root-filled or sagging. The scope is the only way to see that part of the house before it becomes yours.
The age of the house tells us what to expect. Clay tile and cast iron were the standard in Nashville for decades, and some houses from the late 1940s into the early 1970s went in with Orangeburg, a bituminized fiber pipe that slowly flattens into an oval under the soil. New kitchens and fixtures say nothing about which of these is still out in the yard.
A house that has sat empty has had no water through its drains for weeks, so a partial blockage hasn’t had a chance to show itself. We put a good volume of water down during the scope to see whether it drains, where it pools and whether anything comes back toward the house.
Book the scope inside the inspection period in your contract. A finding after that window closes gives a buyer little to work with. One that arrives before it can support a repair request or a price conversation with the seller, backed by the video and the distance to each defect.
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 Line Locating
A transmitter on the camera head traced from the surface, so the line and its depth are marked on the ground before anyone digs.
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 Scope Inspection: what people ask first
Is a sewer scope worth it when buying an older house?
On most older homes, yes. Repairing or replacing a sewer lateral is one of the larger repairs a house can need, and a standard home inspection doesn’t look inside the buried pipe. A scope before the inspection deadline shows the pipe material and its condition while there is still time to negotiate, ask for a repair or walk away.
Does a regular home inspection check the sewer line?
Usually not. A general home inspector runs water at the fixtures and checks that it drains, which proves only that the line was open that day. The pipe under the yard, from the foundation to the city connection, needs a camera, and most inspectors either offer a scope as a separate service or recommend someone who does.
What does a sewer scope look for in a house built in the 1960s?
Orangeburg pipe first. Houses built from roughly the late 1940s into the early 1970s may have this bituminized fiber pipe, which softens, flattens into an oval and eventually collapses. The scope also checks for root intrusion at clay tile joints, offsets where the ground has moved, and repairs a previous owner made to only part of the line.
Who usually pays for a sewer scope, the buyer or the seller?
The buyer usually pays, because it is ordered as one of the buyer’s inspections. Some sellers scope the line before listing so problems are known up front. Either way, the recording and written finding belong to whoever paid for them, and a buyer offered a seller’s scope report should ask to see the actual video.
Free estimate
Book sewer scope inspection 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.