Every year, potential home buyers flock to realtor.ca in an attempt to land their dream home with turn-key expectations. Focused on the home’s location, the decor of the kitchen and lot size, buyers can easily become distracted with the layout of the home and not think about what lies beneath the ground. This is another area buyers need to focus their attention on when seriously considering the purchase of a home.
At Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Service, we frequently receive service requests from new homeowners who have recently experienced unexpected basement flooding. They express their shock and ask, “How this could happen? After all, we had an inspector go through the home before we purchased it.”
The reality is that camera inspection of the main sanitary sewer is not included in your typical home inspection. It should be. Talk to any home insurance adjustor today and they will tell you that the majority of insurance claims are related to water and sewage backups.
The average home’s plumbing system represents approximately five to 10 per cent of the overall value. If you purchase a home in Toronto for $800,000, the cost to retrofit your entire plumbing system could be upwards of $80,000. The last thing you need after placing a down payment and taking on a mortgage is to deal with an unexpected plumbing problem that may cost several thousand dollars to repair. And that cost does not include the cosmetic restoration to the basement or the front yard landscaping, which is often a greater expense than the repair itself.
All of Roto-Rooter’s cameras are equipped with RF locators, which our technicians can use to pinpoint where exactly in the pipe the obstruction is taking place. This in turn will provide the necessary information to either perform a spot repair or replace the main sewer line. Video recordings are also available upon request should this information need to be relayed to a third party (the seller).
There are a number of indicators that buyers should be aware of that would warrant a camera inspection:
1) If the home is 30 years or older, chances are the main sewer line is clay. Clay will deteriorate with age caused by erosion. The pipe will become brittle and tree roots will breach the pipe either through the fittings or, if weak enough, right through the pipe itself.
2) If there are mature trees on the front lawn of the buyer’s property, or on the neighbouring properties, the probability that tree roots are an issue increases. Even roots from a tree that has been cut down can continue to grow underground and find their way into the main sewer line.
3) If the home has not been lived in for many years, the status of the main drain remains a mystery. A camera inspection will answer any questions you have regarding the state and condition of the sewer system. This gives buyers peace of mind and, more importantly, information on how they should value the home.
Do not be afraid to ask the seller if they have experienced a back-up in the past. If it happened once, it can happen again and sometimes a backup will not occur unless there is heavy usage or rainfall. Buyers rarely visit the home they are buying in poor weather and sellers may not be obligated to disclose information pertaining to the plumbing in their home. With the smart investment of a camera inspection, the buyer can forego the surprise of an expensive plumbing nightmare.
David Collini is with Roto-Rooter, which was established in 1935 and is the largest provider of plumbing and drain cleaning in North America. For your nearest Roto-Rooter Plumbing and Drain Service, call 1-800-GET-ROTO. Visit www.RotoRooter.com to schedule a service call. For useful homeowner tips visit the RotoRooterTV channel on YouTube.
