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Do home buyers typically perform sewer inspections whenever they purchase an older home (70+ years)? I'm reading a lot about how its worth it, but if so, why isn't everyone doing them as part of the inspection process? I'll be scheduling a home inspection in a few days and I'm unsure whether its needed. There are no large trees anywhere on the property, just some shrubs in a small area. Would the home inspector be able to advise whether he/she thinks it'd be a good investment considering their findings? I live in an urban area, if that matters.
I recommend my clients do it for homes built in the 70's or older. I bought a 1964 home who's pipes kept getting clogged. Was told by one plumber that did video camera down there that he thought a pipe was cracked under house and that I would need to do trenchless repiping.
I had Bioremedies out (I think they are national, for a quote on repiping, and they told me to let them run a camera first. What a difference in video quality. Turned out there were no broken pipes. Just a v shaped buildup of stuff inside causing repeated clogs. They used some kind of chain that shaved the crud off them, and then a high pressure wash, and they never clogged again. 500.00 instead of about 20k.
but if so, why isn't everyone doing them as part of the inspection process?
Because they figure if it was important, it would be part of the regular inspection. And this couldn't be farther from the truth. I bought a house that was built in 1936. Inspector raved about the condition and quality of the home. All was good, or so I thought. Two months later there was a sewage back up in my cellar because my lateral was being crushed under a US highway that runs from Maryland to California. I not only had to fix my lateral; but repair the road to DOT requirements. Major money. I will never, ever not get a video inspection for any house I buy, regardless of when built.
We bought our first "older" home recently and had a video inspection of the sewer pipes done. It wasn't expensive and it provided peace of mind. Our house is fifty something years old so we went beyond the scope of the routine inspection process. Previous homes we had bought were always newly built or fairly new so for us it was a big deal buying an older home and we just wanted to be sure.
About 15 years ago when I sold my current house one requirement by the buyer was to have the septic tank pumped at my expense. As I am looking for a new house in an area that has septic systems would it be my expense or the seller's expense to have the tank pumped and the lines looked at if it is an older home? Also how old would the house need to be for a video inspection?
About 15 years ago when I sold my current house one requirement by the buyer was to have the septic tank pumped at my expense. As I am looking for a new house in an area that has septic systems would it be my expense or the seller's expense to have the tank pumped and the lines looked at if it is an older home? Also how old would the house need to be for a video inspection?
Pumping the tank and inspecting the lines are done by two different people in my area. The lines being discussed above are technically a bit different than septic lines. They serve a similar purpose though--get waste out of the house.
Here sellers often have the tank pumped prior to listing the house if it's not been done in the last five years or so. Buyers will often make the sellers paying to pump the tank part of the offer if the sellers haven't done it. The cost is about $150 in my area so it's not expensive.
You want a person that can inspect a septic system no matter the age of the house. That might include a video inspection.
Do home buyers typically perform sewer inspections whenever they purchase an older home (70+ years)? I'm reading a lot about how its worth it, but if so, why isn't everyone doing them as part of the inspection process? I'll be scheduling a home inspection in a few days and I'm unsure whether its needed. There are no large trees anywhere on the property, just some shrubs in a small area. Would the home inspector be able to advise whether he/she thinks it'd be a good investment considering their findings? I live in an urban area, if that matters.
Even newer homes can have line problems so even you feel more comfortable with one, and I would on a 70 year old home, then I do recommend it. However make sure you know what you are getting with the inspection!
Many Inspectors only scope the building sewer line which is from the house to the city (or other) sewer connection. Some, very, very few might scope the building drain which is the main line under the house that all of the branch drains discharge into. I have yet to hear of any Inspector that scopes the branch drain lines (from fixture like toilet, sink, etc.) to the building drain. This is a very important distinction if you have buried drain lines under the home and even more so with slab foundations.
Another important aspect is whether you will receive a video of the scoping process. That can be very helpful for your purchase process and later if needed.
Make sure you know how your waste lines are run and how you obtain the results so you can get the most out of any waste line scoping.
Sewer line inspections are quite uncommon in my area. I've been a real estate agent for well over a decade and I've only witnessed one. it was my listing and the buyer's inspector recommended the pipe be scoped as he felt it wasn't pitched correctly (he was wrong as inspectors so often are it seems BTW). Any way, they hired Roto-Rooter to scope the sewer line and they caused all kinds of damage which they said wasn't their responsibility to fix as they had warned the buyer ahead of time that it might happen as the house was older. So, the buyer ended up footing the bill to have the RR plumber come by and fix everything.
Sewer line inspections are quite uncommon in my area. I've been a real estate agent for well over a decade and I've only witnessed one. it was my listing and the buyer's inspector recommended the pipe be scoped as he felt it wasn't pitched correctly (he was wrong as inspectors so often are it seems BTW). Any way, they hired Roto-Rooter to scope the sewer line and they caused all kinds of damage which they said wasn't their responsibility to fix as they had warned the buyer ahead of time that it might happen as the house was older. So, the buyer ended up footing the bill to have the RR plumber come by and fix everything.
Sounds like a racket.
Can you imagine the problems that would have caused if the buyer chose not to buy and refused to pay for the repairs?!
A potential buyer scoped our 50-year old sewer lines in 2005, that was the first time I'd heard of it.
There was some kind of problem, we agreed to $2000 or so so they could fix it. They wound up not buying for some other reason, but we had to disclose it and pay the actual buyer. 'salright, we made a ton of money that house.
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