Concord, NCSewer LineRepair

Why sewer lines fail here: clay near Union Street, settling in the subdivisions

The houses along North and South Union Street went up in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Gibson Village was mill housing for the Gibson Mill, which started up in 1901, and Logan is as old. Sewer pipe from that era is usually clay to the street and cast iron under the floor. Clay cracks and its joints separate. Cast iron corrodes on its inner wall and thins along the bottom until it leaks. Roots then follow the moisture into the pipe.

Almost two homes in three here date from 1990 or later, in places such as Christenbury, Moss Creek and Afton Village. PVC from those years does not corrode. When it fails, the cause is usually the ground or the installation: a length that has settled into a sag, a joint that pulled apart, or pipe laid without proper support. A sag holds water and waste, and the line backs up no matter how often it is cleaned.

Camera, locate, then repair the section that failed

Every job begins with a sewer camera inspection. If the line is full of water or debris, it gets drain cleaning first so the camera can see. A transmitter in the camera head lets us mark the position and depth of the break from above ground. You watch the footage with us.

Next come your options and a price. Often the answer is a spot repair: we call in utility locates, dig at the mark, cut out the damaged pipe and set new pipe at the correct slope. We handle the permit when one is required, and we run the camera through the finished repair before backfilling. The public sewer here is the responsibility of Water Resources, a City department, and WSACC treats the wastewater. Where the City's part of your connection begins is a question for Water Resources, and the surface mark tells you exactly what to ask about.

Where we expect repairs, and what agents and managers ask for

The likeliest addresses are the oldest ones: the North Union Street Historic District, Logan, Gibson Village, South Union Street and Edgewood. In the subdivisions built since the 1990s we expect fewer repairs and smaller ones, usually a single sag or joint.

Real-estate agents are among the customers we work with most. Home inspectors do not send a camera down the sewer, so on an older house a buyer's agent can order a camera run alongside a plumbing inspection during due diligence. If it finds a break, the footage and a firm price give both sides something to negotiate with. Property managers use the same process to decide whether a line needs one more cleaning or a repair. For shops and restaurants near Concord Mills, a failed line is handled under commercial plumbing, and we plan the work around opening hours.

Scheduling, pricing and the 1-year labor warranty

We are reachable 24/7, and a line that is backing up into the house can be treated as an emergency plumber call to get flow restored. Same-day service can be requested. Most camera inspections and repairs take place 24 to 48 hours after the call.

We do not price a sewer repair without seeing the pipe. Once the camera has shown the damage, the price depends on the factors below. Lawn is the simplest surface to open. A driveway, a walkway or a mature tree adds work. A leaking cast iron line in a crawlspace is often easier to reach than a break in the yard. You get the price before any digging starts.

Every sewer or drain pipe repair comes with our 1-year labor warranty. Cleaning does not, so if we clear the line before the repair, only the repair is covered.

• Depth of the pipe
• Length of the damaged section
• What sits above it: lawn, driveway, walkway or tree
• Access, for a line under the house