Sewer camera inspection in Warrenton.
A sewer camera inspection in Warrenton is $89 added to a visit or $500 to $1,700 on its own, on Town sewer or on FCWSA’s in Vint Hill and Brookside.
- Camera before any dig
- Priced in writing first
- Dedicated plumbing team
Book a sewer camera inspection
Town lines back to the 1950s, and a New Baltimore that waited until 1999 for sewer.
The Town of Warrenton’s sewage treatment plant dates from 1958, and close to three in ten homes inside the town limits are older than 1960. The Town’s design manual still details tying house lines into old clay and concrete mains. On the house side, a line laid from the late 1940s into the early 1970s may be Orangeburg, a tar paper pipe that sags out of round with age and can be torn up by a drain cable. If nobody knows what’s under your yard, the camera goes in first.
Under the Town Code, a stoppage in the public main is the Town’s to clear. One in your house sewer is yours, and if it’s still there 48 hours after the town manager’s notice, the Town may clear it and bill the cost plus 20 percent. Starting the camera at the curbside cleanout shows which side of that line a clog or a break sits on, and how far out.
About a third of the town’s homes went up from 1980 through 1999, and more than a quarter since 2000, mostly on PVC. The Town’s manual calls for a house lateral at least 4 inches across, at a 2 percent slope or steeper, with a cleanout at the right-of-way line and another every 50 feet. A line that fell short of that slope, or settled in its trench, holds water in a low spot the footage shows plainly.
Out past the town line, sewer came late. The County’s plan for the New Baltimore service district says it had no public sewer before 1999, and most of the district still sits outside the sewer area, so plenty of houses there are on septic, which we don’t work on. The exceptions are Vint Hill, on the plant FCWSA took over from the Army in 1997 and the County replaced in 2010, and Brookside, whose 945 lots the County approved as sewered. FCWSA counts the pipe from its main to your house as yours, except the stretch under a public street.
What’s under the yards across Warrenton.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Baltimore | 1999 | single-family houses, nearly all | gas, about 5 in 10 | PVC to the street, mostly; a settled trench can leave a sag. |
| Warrenton | 1993 | single-family houses, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 6 in 10 | PVC to the street, mostly; a settled trench can leave a sag. |
Warrenton houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
The Town of Warrenton
Inside the town limits, a little over 4 of the roughly 110 square miles the two Warrenton ZIP codes cover: the Historic District around Main Street, Leeds Square, and the streets off Broadview Avenue and Alwington Boulevard.
- Median home built1993 Census
- 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 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 4 in 10 Census
- Lines from before 1960 are often clay or cast iron, and roots get in at the joints.
The Fauquier County side
New Baltimore only. It’s the one Census place on the county side with mostly Warrenton mail, so the farms and lots beyond it aren’t in these figures.
- Median home built1999 Census
- Built before 1980about 3 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 5 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, nearly all Census
- Heated withgas, about 5 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 1 in 10 Census
- Newer houses run PVC throughout, so a camera here is checking the grade and the joints, not the pipe wall.
What a sewer camera inspection costs in Warrenton.
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 Warrenton.
Building new on an old lot in town
The Town Code lets an old house sewer serve a new building only after the town manager has examined and tested it. Have the old line filmed before the plans are final, so you know whether it stays or a new lateral, with its own Town permit, goes in the budget.
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.
A newer house nobody has looked under
Plastic pipe doesn’t rust, but the trench it was laid in can settle and leave a sag that holds water and paper. If the line has never had a camera in it, nobody knows.
Whose sewer line it is in Warrenton.
Town of Warrenton
On Town sewer the owner keeps up the line from the cleanout at the curb, or the property line where there’s no cleanout, to the house, and on Town water the line from the meter to the house. The Town locates its own side; finding the house side is your plumber’s job. Source.
Replacing a water or sewer lateral from the street takes a Town permit, with a cleanout built to the Town’s Public Facilities Manual. Source.
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 Warrenton.
Questions to ask anybody who offers to put a camera down your line, us included.
Do they know who makes the connection at the main?
Inside the town limits, the Town Code says only an authorized Town employee connects a house sewer to the main. If the camera puts the trouble right at that joint, the quote should say which part of the job is the Town’s.
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 Warrenton.
Is my New Baltimore house on sewer or septic?
In Vint Hill or Brookside, almost surely FCWSA sewer. Elsewhere in the service district, the County’s plan puts most land outside any public sewer. Your FCWSA bill settles it: a sewer charge means a main; none means a septic tank, a septic company’s work, not ours.
How much does a sewer camera inspection cost in Warrenton?
$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 Warrenton.
More from SwiftPro in Warrenton
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 Warrenton 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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