A lot has been going on in the background for our project home purchase. I’m going to hold off on providing the address until after the inspection period is over. If you happen to figure it out or wish to hazard a guess, please have the courtesy not to post. At this point, the house could be in Medford and it would not change the content of these posts.

We did the sewer scope on Tuesday. Typically the camera goes down the 4″ clean out (usually a threaded cap in the main sewer line inside the house) which we couldn’t find. The camera wouldn’t fit in the 2″ line that did have a clean-out. The next best answer is removing a toilet (which either the homeowner of a plumber can reinstall). This is what we did. The camera is snaked down the line and you watch for cracks, clogs and other issues all the way out to the curb. Once you cross the curb into the street, the City takes over responsibility.

In this case, the camera jammed at 33″ from the cleanout, just outside the house in the front yard. The spot was located and marked. We’d figured we’d be replacing the line, the scope was a confirmation for us and to provide some budgeting information.

Then a funny (for lack of a better word) thing happened. Somone knocked over the orange safety cone in the middle of the room. Right there in the middle of the floor was the cleanout with a straight shot down the line! Without the cone we would have tripped over it. With the cone, we all avoided it and never looked under it as it is an unusual place for the cleanout.

With a straight shot, the camera was able to break through the 33″ clog and make it out to the street trees in the public right-of-way (planting strip between curb and sidewalk). The old tree has destroyed the line.

For us and this project: no biggie (though it isn’t money I want to spend). I expeceted it as part of the purchase. We will not ask the seller to repair. But for a potential buyer who otherwise would have no reason to accept or want a failed sewer line, this is a big deal. Our sewer system is getting to be 100 years old. Age and environmental conditions (growing trees) have impacted the integrety of the system.