Signs You Need Trenchless Sewer Repair

A sewer line rarely fails all at once. Most homeowners notice a handful of small, easy-to-dismiss symptoms weeks or months before an actual backup — a drain that gulps instead of drains, a smell that comes and goes, a patch of grass that's greener than the rest of the yard for no obvious reason. Catching those signs early is what makes trenchless repair possible in the first place: methods like CIPP pipe lining and epoxy pipe coating only work on a pipe that still has enough structural wall left to bond a liner to. Wait too long, and excavation may be the only option left. Below are the warning signs worth taking seriously, what they usually mean, and which repair method typically applies once a camera inspection confirms the cause.

A working sewer line is sealed. If you're smelling sewage inside the house, near a floor drain, or outside near where the line runs toward the street, that usually means gas or wastewater is escaping through a crack, a separated joint, or a fully broken section of pipe. This is not a symptom to wait out — odor generally means the pipe has already lost integrity, not just capacity. Depending on how much of the pipe wall is still sound, this is often addressed with CIPP lining or epoxy coating; a section that's broken rather than just cracked may need excavation instead.

A clog that clears with hydro jetting and then returns within weeks or months, in the same spot, is usually not a clog problem — it's a pipe problem. Root intrusion at a joint, a bellied section holding standing water, or scale buildup narrowing the pipe will keep collecting debris no matter how many times the line is cleaned. If drain cleaning keeps solving the symptom but not the cause, a camera inspection is the next step to see what's actually restricting the line.

A visible sinkhole or a sudden low spot in the yard is a sign that soil has been washing into the pipe or being carried away by an active leak for some time. This is typically further along than the other signs on this list, and it often means the pipe has a significant break rather than a crack. At this stage, excavation may be necessary to fully address the damaged section, though the extent should still be confirmed with a camera inspection before assuming a full dig is required.

Every sign above can have more than one cause, and the only way to know for sure is to see inside the pipe. A sewer camera inspection runs a video camera through the line to show exactly where a problem is, how severe it is, and what's causing it — root intrusion, a crack, a bellied section, scale buildup, or a full break. A standalone camera inspection is $250, but it's free when bundled with any drain line cleaning service. That inspection is also what determines which repair method applies to your situation.

Whichever method fits your line, the repair carries a workmanship warranty: 10 years on trenchless (CIPP) pipe repairs, 10 years on epoxy pipe coating, and 1 year on traditional excavation repairs. For anyone weighing the cost against the disruption of a dug-up yard, Regions Bank offers 12-month same-as-cash financing with no monthly payments and no interest, so cost doesn't have to be the deciding factor between waiting and getting the line inspected now.

TDS Trenchless, a division of The Drain Surgeon Inc., has served the Augusta, GA area since 2005 and has offered trenchless-specific repair since 2011. The 6-person field crew has completed 120+ trenchless jobs and serves Augusta GA, North Augusta SC, Evans GA, Martinez GA, Grovetown GA, and Aiken SC, within a 60-mile radius of Augusta for trenchless work.