Sewer Scope Question

1

I recently purchased a sewer scope camera and have been scoping my own line as well as the occasional vacant home I inspect to get some knowledge with the camera and what to look out for so I can get plenty of practice before selling the service to clients if I decide to do so.

I came across this today and was hoping to get confirmation or corrected on what I’m seeing. To me, it looks like that is a slight gap between the pipes, obviously can see some roots as well. I’m second guessing myself though because I would think there would be some more erosion to the exposed dirt or some collapsing of the dirt above rather than it appeared to line up relatively smoothly with the pipes. I ran the camera from a cleanout in the crawlspace and this was just beyond the backflow preventer so I couldn’t go further with it.

I appreciate the insight in advance. Photo isn’t great, haven’t pulled it from the memory card yet so this is just a picture of the screen.

IMG_0075
IMG_00754032×3024 3.33 MB

2

Can you share the video?

3

Get training. Most and I mean 98% of home inspectors, never will do enough scopes on their own to be competent. James Krumm’s InterNACHI course is practically mandatory for HIs wanting to get started on their own doing scopes.

3 Likes
4

Here it is, had it cut it down a bit to fit the file size allowed

5

Thanks, definitely planning on taking that course. I took some of the free ones and don’t feel like I learned hardly anything from them.

6

Hard to fully tell, but I’m inclined to say that is pipe separation. Also, that’s a backflow prevention flap you are pushing through. Be careful with that. You won’t be able to get your camera back through those all the time.

2 Likes
7

The pause in the video was me googling what I should do there haha

1 Like
8

You are not wrong, however, a small gap filled with roots will retain the soil much like geomesh.

1 Like
9

Hi Brian,

Hard to tell from the video feed. What kind of camera do you have? Does it have a self-leveling head?

But my guess on the materials we are viewing are PVC, SDR 35 and a rubber coupling. Looks like someone made a repair in that area.

I’d have some concerns with debris getting hung up in that area over time. It can be problematic. Yes, that does look like roots as well.

Hope that helps some.

1 Like