Sewer camera inspection in McLean.
A sewer camera inspection in McLean is $89 added to a visit or $500 to $1,700 on its own. Close to four in ten 22101 homes date from the 1950s and 60s.
- Camera before any dig
- Priced in writing first
- Dedicated plumbing team
Book a sewer camera inspection
Postwar laterals, rebuilt houses on old lines, and the towers of 22102.
Close to four in ten homes in 22101 went up in the 1950s and 60s, and about one in five across the McLean Census area is older than 1960. A lateral from those years usually leaves the house as cast iron and crosses the yard as clay, and some houses built between the late 1940s and the early 1970s got Orangeburg instead: wood pulp pressed together with coal tar, which softens and goes oval in the ground.
Fairfax County’s 2021 canopy count puts trees over more than half of the McLean Census area, and over at least four tenths of every census tract in it. The county’s wastewater office says roots get into open joints and cracks and, given time, break the pipe. A clay lateral has a joint every few feet, so in an older McLean yard the footage answers two things: which joints the roots have found, and whether the pipe between them is still round. After roots are cut, the county asks for a call so it can clean its own main too.
About one home in seven in 22101 went up in 2010 or later, and when a new house takes the place of an old one, Fairfax County lets the old lateral stay if a video of it is uploaded to the plumbing record and approved before the final inspection passes. That video shows the pipe on the day it was shot, in a line that can be decades older than the house. If nobody knows what was kept, the camera finds where new plastic meets old pipe.
In 22102 close to half the homes are in buildings of 50 units or more, and a tower’s drains gather into the building’s own lines long before anything meets the county sewer. That pipe is the association’s. The detached houses, about one 22102 home in five, have laterals of their own, and our McLean sewer line repair page covers what a camera can turn up.
What’s under the yards across McLean.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McLean | 1977 | single-family houses, about 8 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Cast iron or clay to the street, with joints roots can get into. |
| Tysons | 1985 | condo and apartment buildings, about 7 in 10 | electricity, about 5 in 10 | Condo buildings: a shared main line, usually the association’s. |
McLean houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
McLean
ZIPs 22101 and 22102 as a whole: every McLean address, Tysons included.
- Built before 1980about 4 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 3 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 5 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 7 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 4 in 10 Census
- In condo buildings the main line is usually the association’s; your condo documents say where your part stops.
What a sewer camera inspection costs in McLean.
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 McLean.
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.
It was cleared, and it’s back
A main line that needs clearing every year or two has a reason, and clearing it again doesn’t find it. A camera down the line after it’s cleared does.
How to pick the best plumber for a sewer camera inspection in McLean.
Questions to ask anybody who offers to put a camera down your line, us included.
Will the report mark where the pipe changes?
A postwar McLean line often changes along the way: cast iron through the foundation, clay or Orangeburg under the yard, maybe a plastic patch where someone fixed a break. Ask for the distance from the cleanout at each change, so any repair quote can be checked against 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 McLean.
Who owns the sewer line under my McLean yard and street?
You do, curb and pavement included. Under Fairfax County’s plumbing code the lateral is private from your foundation to the point where it joins the county’s main, even when that point sits under the road. Fixing any of it needs a county plumbing permit, and a state road adds a VDOT permit.
How do I know if my McLean sewer line is Orangeburg?
From inside the house you usually can’t: the pipe you see in the basement is cast iron, and the change happens past the foundation wall. A 1950s or 60s build date makes Orangeburg possible, not certain. The camera settles it before anyone runs a cutting head through the line.
How much does a sewer camera inspection cost in McLean?
$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 McLean.
More from SwiftPro in McLean
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 McLean 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.