# Sewer Inspection Before You Buy a Denver Property

A standard home inspection does not look inside the sewer lateral, and that lateral is one of the largest single repair costs a Denver property can hand a new owner. Denver Sewer and Water runs a camera inspection inside your inspection window and gives you footage you can negotiate with.

- Scheduled to fit the inspection deadline.
- Full run camera inspection with footage.
- Defect location and depth marked.
- Plain language findings, no upsell pressure.
- Denver metro residential and small commercial.

## Buyers Have a Deadline, Not a Repair Problem

At this stage you are not deciding how to fix a line. You are deciding whether to ask for a credit, ask for a repair, or walk. That decision needs evidence inside a fixed number of days, which is a different job from a repair call.

Sewer condition is invisible in every other part of a transaction. Nothing on the disclosure, the appraisal, or a general inspection tells you whether the lateral is clay tile with twenty open joints or PVC installed last decade.

Denver's housing stock makes this specific rather than theoretical. Pre-1930 houses sit on clay. Houses built between 1945 and 1972 frequently sit on Orangeburg, which has a predictable failure age that many of these properties have already passed.

- The house was built before 1930 and has original plumbing.
- The build date falls between 1945 and 1972.
- Mature trees sit anywhere near the line path.
- The property has been vacant or was a rental for years.
- The seller mentions the line was recently snaked.

## What the Inspection Tells You and What It Cannot

The camera answers material, condition, defect type, and defect location. Those four facts are enough to price a repair conversation with reasonable confidence and to decide whether the issue is cosmetic or structural.

It does not answer everything. A line full of standing water hides the pipe wall beneath it, and a run blocked by roots stops the camera before the far end. When that happens we say so directly and tell you what a cleaning would reveal, rather than reporting a clean line we did not actually see.

We also do not tell you what to offer. You get the footage, the defect list, and the options. What you do with that in the negotiation is between you and your agent.

- Recorded footage of the accessible run.
- Pipe material and approximate installation era.
- Every defect found, with type and severity.
- Surface location and depth of significant defects.
- Whether the defect is repairable in place or needs replacement.

## How a Pre-Purchase Inspection Works

1. **Book Inside the Window** Tell us the inspection deadline when you call. Scheduling is built around that date, because a report delivered after the window closes is worthless to you.
2. **Access the Cleanout** We inspect from the existing cleanout where one exists. If the property has none, we tell you before the visit what the alternative access looks like.
3. **Run the Camera and Locate** The full accessible run is recorded, and anything significant is located and marked at the surface with depth noted.
4. **Deliver Findings Fast** You get footage and a written summary in plain language, in time to use it in the negotiation rather than after.

## What a Pre-Purchase Inspection Costs

A pre-purchase camera inspection is a fixed scope visit and is priced as such. We quote it before we come out and there is no obligation to use us for any repair the inspection finds.

Cleaning is a separate scope. If roots or grease stop the camera, we tell you what clearing would cost before doing it rather than adding it to the visit unannounced.

If the inspection does lead to a repair, the diagnostic work already done carries over into the repair scope so nothing gets inspected twice.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is a sewer inspection worth it before buying a house?**

On any Denver property built before 1975, usually yes. The lateral is invisible to a general home inspection and is one of the largest single repair costs a property can carry. An inspection either removes that unknown or gives you documented grounds to renegotiate.

**How fast can you get out before my deadline?**

Tell us the deadline when you call and we schedule against it. Pre-purchase visits are short, fixed scope appointments, which makes them easier to fit than repair work.

**What if the camera cannot get through the line?**

We report exactly where it stopped and why. A blocked run is itself a finding. We will tell you what cleaning would cost to complete the inspection, but we will never report a section as sound when we did not see it.

**Do I get the video?**

Yes. You receive the recorded footage along with a written summary of the material, the defects, and their locations, so you can share it with your agent or a second contractor.

## Related Methods, Materials, and Municipal Process Pages

- [Pipe Material Identification Guide](https://www.denversewerandwater.com/materials/pipe-material-identification-guide) Identify clay, cast iron, Orangeburg, concrete, PVC, and ABS by age and appearance.
- [Orangeburg Pipe Replacement](https://www.denversewerandwater.com/materials/orangeburg-pipe-replacement) Replacing bituminized fiber pipe installed in Denver during the postwar building boom.
- [Sewer Line Lifespan by Material](https://www.denversewerandwater.com/materials/sewer-line-lifespan-by-material) Expected service life for every material buried under Denver properties.
- [Sewer Camera Inspection](https://www.denversewerandwater.com/methods/sewer-camera-inspection) Video inspection that identifies the defect, its depth, and its location.
- [Historic Home Sewer Work](https://www.denversewerandwater.com/properties/historic-home-sewer-work) Sewer work on pre-1930 Denver houses where clay tile, alley access, and district review all apply.
- [Repair or Replace: How to Decide](https://www.denversewerandwater.com/materials/when-to-repair-vs-replace) The evidence that separates a fixable defect from a line at end of life.

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Denver Sewer and Water is a privately owned, licensed and insured plumbing contractor. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Denver Water, the municipal water utility, or any government entity. To pay a municipal water bill or reach the public utility, visit denverwater.org.

Source: https://www.denversewerandwater.com/properties/property-purchase-sewer-inspection