Sewer camera inspection in Alexandria.
Alexandria sewer camera inspections run $89 when we’re already at the house or $500 to $1,700 on their own, on both sides of the city line.
- Camera before any dig
- Priced in writing first
- Dedicated plumbing team
Book a sewer camera inspection
In the City a 1955 date splits the line; in the county it’s all yours.
Inside the City of Alexandria, the year your sewer lateral went in decides how much of it you own. On a lateral laid before July 1, 1955, the owner’s share runs from the curb to the house; on newer ones the City’s wording runs it further out toward the main, so ask the City where yours stops before anybody digs. About 3 in 10 owner-occupied City homes predate 1960, and in Old Town, where the street sewer dates to the 1800s, the pipe under the front step can be anything from clay to cast iron.
The City runs cameras through its own mains to decide which to rehabilitate, and looks after the City-owned portions of laterals. The private stretch is the owner’s to inspect, and a camera run with a locator is how you learn which side of the curb a break is on. Reconnecting at a City main takes a lateral connection permit from Transportation and Environmental Services.
On the Fairfax County side there’s no date to check: the owner has the whole lateral, out to the county main and under the street, and replacing it takes a county plumbing permit, plus a VDOT permit under a state road. The typical owner’s house in Belle Haven dates from 1957, and in Fort Hunt, nearly all single-family houses, from 1963. Pipe laid then is usually clay or cast iron, and some houses finished from the late 1940s into the early 1970s drain through Orangeburg, a fiber pipe that slowly goes oval under the soil’s weight.
Kingstowne and Franconia are the younger end. About 7 in 10 Kingstowne homes and two thirds of Franconia’s went up between 1980 and 1999, about half of them townhouses, usually on plastic pipe with no clay joints for roots to find. There the camera checks the grade: a stretch that sank with its trench and now sits low.
What’s under the yards across Alexandria.
Census figures for the owner-occupied homes in each place, and the sewer pipe houses that age usually have.
| Place | Median home built | Most homes are | Heated with | The sewer line you usually find |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Alexandria | 1970 | condo and apartment buildings, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 6 in 10 | Condo buildings: a shared main line, usually the association’s. |
| Rose Hill | 1969 | single-family houses, about 7 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Cast iron or clay to the street, with joints roots can get into. |
| Franconia | 1986 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | PVC to the street, mostly; a settled trench can leave a sag. |
| Fort Hunt | 1963 | single-family houses, nearly all | gas, about 8 in 10 | Clay or cast iron, and Orangeburg on some late 1940s to 60s lines. |
| Kingstowne | 1994 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | PVC to the street, mostly; a settled trench can leave a sag. |
| Woodlawn | 1976 | townhouses, about 4 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | Cast iron or clay to the street, with joints roots can get into. |
| Lincolnia | 1982 | single-family houses, about 4 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | PVC to the street, mostly; a settled trench can leave a sag. |
| Mount Vernon | 1967 | single-family houses, about 7 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Cast iron or clay to the street, with joints roots can get into. |
Alexandria houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
The City of Alexandria
- Median home built1970 Census
- Built before 1980about 6 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes arecondo and apartment buildings, about 5 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 6 in 10 Census
- Houses built from the late 1940s into the early 1970s can drain through Orangeburg, tar paper pipe that a snake tears apart, so the camera goes first.
- Lines from before 1960 are often clay or cast iron, and roots get in at the joints.
What a sewer camera inspection costs in Alexandria.
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 Alexandria.
It backs up on a dry day
In Old Town a hard rain can overload the street sewer and push water back toward basements. A backup on a dry afternoon, with only the washer running, points at your own line: clear it, then send the camera down while the cause is still there.
A house from the 1950s or 60s
Some houses from that era drain through Orangeburg, a tar paper pipe that a drain snake tears apart. If nobody knows what your line is made of, the camera goes down before the snake does.
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 Alexandria.
City of Alexandria
About 540 acres of Old Town still run on a combined sewer from the 1800s. RiverRenew keeps the overflow out of the river but doesn’t stop basement backups. Source.
How to pick the best plumber for a sewer camera inspection in Alexandria.
Questions to ask anybody who offers to put a camera down your line, us included.
Will they mark the problem against the curb line?
In the City that mark can decide who pays for the repair. Ask for the distance from the cleanout and the depth, flagged on the ground, so you can see whether a break is on the house side of the curb or past it. On a lateral laid before July 1, 1955, the stretch past the curb isn’t yours.
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.
Hard to find service like this in Alexandria.
…we had swift and professional responses for multiple plumbing and HVAC needs in our Rosemont Alexandria condo
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.
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Sewer camera questions from Alexandria.
Should the line get a camera before a backflow preventer goes in?
Yes. The preventer gets cut into your sewer line, so it helps to know first how deep the pipe runs, what it’s made of and whether that section is sound enough to take a fitting. The City’s reimbursement asks for a permit and a passed final inspection, so price the camera and the valve together.
How much does a sewer camera inspection cost in Alexandria?
$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 Alexandria.
More from SwiftPro in Alexandria
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 Alexandria 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.
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