Sewer camera inspection in The Plains.
A sewer camera inspection in The Plains is $89 added to a visit, or $500 to $1,700 on its own. Most houses in town stood before the sewer came.
- Camera before any dig
- Priced in writing first
- Dedicated plumbing team
Book a sewer camera inspection
Old drains on flat town lots, under trees the summer storms keep knocking down.
The state register for The Plains Historic District, which takes in most of the town, dates nearly half its buildings from 1900 to 1930, and at least one is a 1920s kit house that probably arrived by rail. A drain from those years was usually cast iron inside the walls and clay or cast iron out under the yard, laid in short lengths, so there’s a joint every few feet for roots and settling to work on.
Almost a quarter of the district went up in the 1940s and 1950s, from the Cape Cods on Loudoun Avenue to four brick houses on Mosby Street around 1956: the years some builders used Orangeburg, a fiber pipe that slumps out of round with age. The Town’s history puts public sewer in place by 1977, so most of these lines were turned toward a public main long after they were laid. The camera shows where old pipe meets new.
The register calls the town fairly flat, apart from a hilly stretch in the northeast, and describes yards full of mature trees. On flat ground a sewer line has little slope to spare, so a section that sinks even an inch can hold standing water and paper. The roots of a big tree find that wet joint first.
Then there’s the wind. NOAA’s Storm Events Database records numerous trees blown down in The Plains on July 12, 2022, Bunker Hill Road among them, and more trees and wires down along The Plains Road in August 2023 and again in August 2024. When a mature tree tips over, its root plate lifts out of the ground and can drag a pipe it has wrapped along with it. If one fell between the house and the street, have the line looked at before the stump is ground out.
The Plains houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
The Fauquier County side
ZIP 20198 as a whole, the Town included: its own homes are too few for steady Census figures.
- Median home built1983 Census
- Built before 1980about 5 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 3 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 9 in 10 Census
- Heated withelectricity, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 3 in 10 Census
- Lines from before 1960 are often clay or cast iron, and roots get in at the joints.
What a sewer camera inspection costs in The Plains.
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 The Plains.
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.
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.
Whose sewer line it is in The Plains.
Fauquier County
On FCWSA sewer, the service line from the main to the property line and the lateral from there to the house are the customer’s to clear. FCWSA clears its mains and fixes a service line under a public street, and it doesn’t reimburse a plumber. Source.
How to pick the best plumber for a sewer camera inspection in The Plains.
Questions to ask anybody who offers to put a camera down your line, us included.
Will they mark where the line actually runs?
The Plains was never laid out on a grid; the register says its layout followed old roads, the railroad and property lines, and its lots are fairly irregular. A sewer line here doesn’t always run straight to the street. Ask for the route and depth marked on the ground, so any repair gets priced for where the pipe really is.
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.
Plumbing system test and maintenance, including snaking the sewer line As a follow up, Tyson came out to check the system and gave us some good preventive maintenance tips.
5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Sewer camera questions from The Plains.
Is my house in The Plains on sewer or septic?
In town, most likely sewer: FCWSA’s, running to its treatment plant at Marshall. Out on the farms and estates across the rest of 20198, a house usually has its own septic system, permitted by the Fauquier County Health Department. SwiftPro does no septic work; the tank and drainfield are a septic contractor’s.
My line runs under a stone wall and the sidewalk. Does a repair mean tearing them up?
Not always. The register notes stone and concrete walls along many front property lines in town, and concrete sidewalks on most streets. If the footage shows pipe that’s cracked but holding its shape, a liner put in from inside may fix it without moving a stone. Lining is priced from that footage; our trenchless sewer repair page shows how.
How much does a sewer camera inspection cost in The Plains?
$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 The Plains.
More from SwiftPro in The Plains
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 The Plains 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.