Sewer camera inspection in Clifton.
A sewer camera inspection in Clifton is $89 added to a visit, or $500 to $1,700 on its own, for a line to county sewer, a septic tank or the Town’s vault.
- Camera before any dig
- Priced in writing first
- Dedicated plumbing team
Book a sewer camera inspection
Three places a Clifton sewer line can end, and a different camera job at each.
Inside the Town of Clifton the sewer is far younger than the houses. The Town’s plan says they drained to septic fields and privies until the late 1960s, when Fairfax County laid lines through the wettest, most crowded part of town for a treatment plant that was never built, and settled on a pump and haul station instead. New development was kept off those lines, so a house on them most likely got its own pipe when those first hookups were made.
Pipe laid then may be cast iron, clay or Orangeburg, pressed tar paper pipe still sold in those years that sags out of round as it ages. The plan notes significant stands of mature forest in town, and roots find any joint that has opened. Whatever slips into a cracked line, groundwater included, rides to one concrete vault that gets emptied by truck.
Out on the five-acre lots along Clifton, Compton and Yates Ford Roads, the county’s plan for the Occoquan watershed keeps public sewer away. The pipe runs from the house to a septic tank, and that stretch is the camera’s. The tank and the drainfield belong to a licensed septic contractor, and SwiftPro does no septic work, so when the footage says the pipe is sound, that’s who we’ll tell you to call.
Around Springstone Drive and Union Mill Road the 1980s subdivisions drain to county sewer, and about nine in ten homes in that Census tract went up in that one decade. Pipe that age is plastic, so the camera there reads slope and joints more than the pipe itself.
Clifton houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
The Fairfax County side of 20124
Clifton mail outside the town: five- to ten-acre lots in the Occoquan watershed on Clifton, Compton and Yates Ford Roads, mostly on septic, and the 1980s subdivisions off Springstone Drive and Union Mill Road on county sewer.
ZIP 20124 as a whole, the Town included: its own homes are too few for steady Census figures.
- Median home built1988 Census
- Built before 1980about 1 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 1 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 8 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 1 in 10 Census
- 1980s and 90s houses mostly run PVC to the street, where a sag in settled backfill is the thing to rule out.
What a sewer camera inspection costs in Clifton.
Why we’re at the house decides which price you pay. On its own, the line often has to be cleared before the camera can see anything, and that’s what moves the number.
- Sewer camera inspection, added to a visit$89
- Sewer camera inspection on its own$500 to $1,700
A locator on the camera head marks the spot and its depth on the ground, so if something needs fixing you know where. If the line is fine, nobody talks about digging.
Comfort+ membership is $199 a year for four visits: a dryer vent cleaning, a water heater flush with a sewer camera inspection, a heating maintenance visit and a cooling maintenance visit.
When to put a camera down the line in Clifton.
Buying an older house inside the town line
Learn first whether it’s on the pump and haul or its own septic field, then put a camera down whichever line it has. The Town’s plan holds new hookups to a short list of eligible lots, so the sewer that comes with the house is very likely the one you keep.
Big trees in the front yard
Roots don’t break a sewer line. They find a crack or a loose joint that’s already there and grow into it, which is why a line under old trees is worth a look before it slows down.
Water comes up the floor drain
When the washer empties and water rises in the basement floor drain, or a toilet gurgles while a sink runs, the main line isn’t carrying it all away. The camera shows why.
Whose sewer line it is in Clifton.
Town of Clifton
The Town has no sewer main to a treatment plant. Since about 1970 a county pump and haul station at the end of Chapel Street has collected from the properties on its lines, and the county plan says public sewer should go no further; the Town’s plan counts every other property on its own septic field. Source.
Fairfax County
In Fairfax County the homeowner owns the whole sewer lateral, from the house to the county main, including the stretch under the street. Replacing it takes a county plumbing permit, plus a VDOT permit under a state road. Source.
How to pick the best plumber for a sewer camera inspection in Clifton.
Questions to ask anybody who offers to put a camera down your line, us included.
Will they show you where their job stops and the septic contractor’s starts?
On a septic lot a backup can be the pipe, or the tank and the field, and those are two trades. Ask whoever runs the camera to mark where the pipe meets the tank and to show you everything up to it.
Will they show you what the camera finds?
Ask to see it and to keep a copy. “It’s roots” with nothing to show for it is a guess, and a guess is a bad reason to dig up a yard.
Do they line and dig, or only one?
A company that only digs tends to see a dig, and one that only lines tends to see a liner. We do both, so the footage decides, not the truck.
What our customers say.
Nii is the best. He’s been to the house twice – once for a galvanized to PVC piping change-out, and another time for a badly clogged kitchen line that wouldn’t budge with my snake and a good bit of effort. Super nice guy, very skilled, fair, calm, etc. Exactly what you want in a plumber.
5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Sewer camera questions from Clifton.
Can you put a camera down the line on a Clifton septic lot?
Yes, from the house to the tank: in at a cleanout, stopping at the tank’s inlet. Past that it’s septic contractor ground, and Fairfax County wants the tank pumped at least every five years whatever the pipe looks like.
Sewage came up the basement drain in my Springstone Drive house. Who do I call?
Fairfax County first, at its 24-hour line, 703-323-1211, so its crew can rule out the county main. If the main is running, the backup is in the line from your house, and that’s where the camera comes in: $89 when we’re already there clearing it, $500 to $1,700 booked on its own.
How much does a sewer camera inspection cost in Clifton?
$89 added to a visit we’re already making, $500 to $1,700 booked on its own. The difference is clearing: a visit just for the camera often has to clear the line first.
Should I get a sewer camera inspection before I buy a house?
If the house is older or has big trees out front, yes. A standard home inspection usually doesn’t include one, and in most of Northern Virginia the line from the house toward the street is the owner’s to fix.
More from SwiftPro in Clifton.
More from SwiftPro in Clifton
See the line before anybody digs.
Call, or book online and pick a window. You get the price in writing first, and if the camera says the line is fine, that’s what we’ll tell you.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Clifton and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, 4230 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151, (703) 997-9757. Book online, read our reviews, or see every town we serve.