Mount Holly, NCSewer LineRepair

Why sewer lines fail in an 1875 mill town

The town is named for a cotton mill started in 1875, and the Woodlawn Mill came along in 1906. Roughly a fifth of the homes predate 1960. The oldest of them have clay or cast iron sewer pipe unless someone has already replaced it. Clay opens at its joints, and roots take the opening. Cast iron thins along the bottom. Both end the same way, with a line that backs up soon after every cleaning.

About half the housing is newer than 2000. Imagery on Mountain Island and Dutchmans Ridge are two of those subdivisions, and their sewer lines are PVC, which rarely fails unless the ground settles or a joint was poorly made. Grease is the other factor at any age. By the city's figures, fats, oils and grease are behind half to three quarters of its sanitary sewer overflows. In a private lateral that buildup can hide a damaged section until a camera gets past it.

City first, then camera, then a repair where it failed

City crews clear clogs past your connection point and bring a jet truck when the main itself is blocked. Once they report the main clear, the problem is on your side. We open the line with drain cleaning if it is blocked, then run a sewer camera inspection from the house toward the street.

The camera shows what you are dealing with: grease, roots or broken pipe. The locator marks the spot from above. For a grease-coated line that is otherwise sound, hydro jetting is the fix and no digging is needed. For a section that has cracked or sagged, utility locates come first. Then we uncover the pipe, replace that length at the correct slope and run the camera through it before the trench is filled. If a permit is required, we take care of it.

• Call the city's service center so a crew can check the main
• If the main is clear, call a plumber
• Camera inspection from the house toward the street
• Repair limited to the damaged section

Downtown, Woodlawn and the newer subdivisions

We expect the most repairs in the downtown historic district and Woodlawn, where the housing is oldest. In the newer subdivisions, Imagery on Mountain Island and Dutchmans Ridge among them, a repair is more likely to be a single settled joint. We also cover Catawba Heights, Riverfront, Madora, Stonewater and Kendrick Farm.

Real-estate agents can put the city's rule to use. If a seller has had a backup and the city found its main clear, a camera inspection is the obvious next step before listing, and a plumbing inspection can be done on the same visit. Buyers of pre-1960 houses should ask to see the footage. Property managers get a located repair and a price to approve before anything is dug, which is easier to plan around than a third cleaning in a year.

Scheduling, pricing and warranty in Mount Holly

Our phone is answered 24/7. The city runs its own 24-hour on-call line for the main, so both calls can be made at night. Ask for same-day service if you need it. Most inspections and repairs happen within 24 to 48 hours of your call. If sewage is in the house, that is an emergency plumber call.

We price a repair after seeing the damage on camera. Depth, length and what lies above the pipe decide the cost. Lawn is simple to open and restore. Concrete, a deck or a large tree is not. You hear the price before work starts, and if the camera shows the line only needs jetting, that is what we will recommend.

A pipe repair has our 1-year labor warranty behind it. Clearing the line beforehand does not, and we tell you that at the start.