(618) 444-9976 24/7 emergency sewer service · St. Clair and Madison counties
Sewer Camera Inspection job by Dig N Drain: live video and photos

05 · Sewer Camera Inspection

See inside your sewer before anyone sells you a repair

A waterproof camera goes in through a clean-out and runs the line while you watch the monitor. We find the break, the roots or the belly, mark its depth and position on the ground with a locator, and the photos and video are yours to keep.

What the screen tells us

Every capture on our monitor is stamped with the date and the distance from the clean-out. The three on this page are from 2025: a cloudy pipe 23 feet 1 inch in on April 14, buildup 16 feet 8 inches in on May 10, and a lateral joint 42 feet 11 inches in on May 26. That footage count is what lets us put the excavator over the right spot instead of guessing.

A camera run can show:

  • Cracked or broken pipe
  • Roots coming through the joints
  • Sags and bellies that hold water
  • Collapsed sections
  • Offset or separated joints
  • Grease, scale and objects in the line
  • Pipe laid at the wrong slope

Buying a house in the Metro-East

A sewer scope is a video inspection of the lateral from the house to the city tap, and a standard home inspection leaves it out: InterNACHI’s standards of practice do not require one. Ali Sweet’s real estate company sends us its sewer inspections and repairs:

My real estate company uses Dig N Drain for all of our sewer inspections and repairs.

Ali SweetGoogle review ·

In Belleville, the city’s lateral program pays for repairs between the property line and the main, but the owner first pays a licensed and bonded company to diagnose the problem. A camera run is how that diagnosis gets made.

No guesswork. Just answers.

Dig N Drain

When it’s time for a camera inspection

  • Buying or selling a house
  • Backups that keep coming back
  • Slow or gurgling drains
  • A sewer smell you cannot place
  • Before anyone quotes a repair
  • Old pipe or big trees over the line

Talk to the crew

(618) 444-9976

Answered 24/7. Scope and price before any work starts.

Book Service

How the job goes

What to expect, step by step

  1. 01Into the clean-out

    A small waterproof camera is fed into the line.

  2. 02Live on the monitor

    You watch what we watch, foot by foot.

  3. 03Locate and mark

    The locator finds the camera head; we mark depth and position.

  4. 04Photos and video

    Clear captures of the problem, yours to keep.

  5. 05The honest options

    Repair, replace, clean or leave it: decided on the footage.

Our work

Photos from our own jobs

Sewer camera capture dated April 14, 2025 showing a cloudy pipe view 23 feet 1 inch in
April 14, 2025: cloudy pipe at 23 ft 1 in.
Sewer camera capture dated May 26, 2025 showing a lateral joint 42 feet 11 inches into the line
May 26, 2025: a lateral joint at 42 ft 11 in.

Answers

Questions about sewer camera inspection

How much does a sewer camera inspection cost?

It depends mostly on how easy the line is to get into: an accessible clean-out is quick, and a house without one takes more work. You get the price before we start. The photos and video are included, and they are yours to keep and share with a buyer, a seller or an insurer.

Should I get a sewer scope when buying a house?

Yes, especially on an older house. A standard home inspection leaves out the sewer line; InterNACHI’s standards of practice do not require it. In Granite City, where the median house was built in 1958, the lateral may be original clay or Orangeburg, and that is worth knowing before closing.

What can a sewer camera inspection find?

Cracks, breaks, roots at the joints, sags that hold water, collapsed sections, offset joints, grease and objects in the line, and pipe laid at the wrong slope. The monitor stamps each capture with the date and the distance, like the buildup we filmed 16 feet 8 inches in on May 10, 2025.

Do I get a copy of the sewer camera footage?

Yes. Every inspection comes with photos and video of what the camera found, so you can see the problem for yourself, get a second opinion, or hand it to a buyer, a seller or an insurer. Nobody is asked to agree to a repair on our word alone.

How does the camera show where to dig?

The camera head carries a transmitter. When the camera stops at the problem, a locator on the surface picks up that signal and reads the depth, and we mark the spot on the ground. That is how the excavator ends up over the break instead of trenching the whole yard.

Book it

Book service or ask a question

Where your message goes and what the site keeps: our privacy policy.

Backed up right now?

Call the crew with the camera and the excavator.

A person answers (618) 444-9976 day or night. Not an emergency? Send the form and we will set a time to run the camera.

Call Book Service