When something goes wrong with the sewer line from a house that connects to the sewer main in the center of the street (or wherever it’s located), is repairing the sewer line the responsibility of the city or the homeowner?
People don’t often run up against this question because the sewer line is doing its job. Unfortunately, problems like tree root infiltration, corrosion from age, or breaks due to shifts in the ground (like quakes) can damage a sewer line and require repairs or a full replacement. Then the question “who’s responsible?” becomes an urgent one.
The Homeowner Is Responsible for the Sewer Line
From the point where the sewer pipeline exits a home until it crosses under the property line, it is part of the homeowner’s property and therefore their responsibility. The rest is a city concern, and if a homeowner calls the utility company to inquire about repairs, the company will direct them to speak to a professional plumbing contractor who provides sewer line repair services.
However, and this is important, when we say that the sewer line is the homeowner’s responsibility, we don’t mean the homeowner is responsible for doing the actual repair. Unless the homeowner is a licensed plumbing contractor with access to labor and the right equipment, it’s impossible to perform a DIY job on the sewer line. After all, the sewer line is buried in the ground, and the tools necessary to remove sections or patch them up is far beyond what consumers can afford or even handle.
Sewer Line Repair Doesn’t Have to Be a Nightmare
We understand that sewer line issues are worrying and often emergencies. Nobody wants an unhygienic house or sewage backing up through the drains. Nobody wants toilets that can’t flush. But when this occurs with your house, you have an easy option to remedy it: call our experts for sewer repair.
We offer a special kind of service to make sewer line repairs fast, clean, and economical: trenchless pipe lining in Santa Barbara, CA. If your first image of what a sewer line repair might be like is massive digging equipment encamped on your property, looking like an archaeological expedition, we’re happy to say that’s not the case. Or it isn’t if you work with us. We’ve invested in trenchless technology for sewer and water main repair. Using this equipment, we can work on underground pipes with minimal digging, and sometime no digging at all.
Our job start with a camera inspection of the sewer line (currently we’re offering this service for free) which will locate the source of the problem. We can then make plans for how best to perform repairs. With leaking sections of a pipe, we can use a pipe liner inserted horizontally into the sewer line through a clean-out. The liner seals with epoxy to the interior of the pipe and then secured in place—no digging required! The process takes only a few hours, rather than a few days, which is what standard excavation does.
Husted Plumbing serves the Greater Santa Barbara and Ventura County Area. We offer trenchless sewer line repair and replacement services.