Displaced Joints
Pipe sections that have shifted apart, leaving a lip that catches debris and lets water and roots in.
Home/CCTV Drain Inspection
A CCTV drain inspection in Bellville should answer three questions before anyone quotes a repair: what is wrong, exactly where, and can it be relined. Every defect is filmed, measured from the access point, located from above and marked.
Tell us why you want the drain filmed: repeat blockages, a property purchase, a smell, or a quote you want checked.
Each of these looks the same from the surface: a slow or blocked drain. The footage is what tells them apart.
Pipe sections that have shifted apart, leaving a lip that catches debris and lets water and roots in.
Cracked or fractured pipe, recorded with its length and position so the repair is sized correctly.
Where the pipe has lost its shape and cannot be lined. The camera shows how long the collapse runs.
Low spots where water and solids settle, which explains a drain that blocks in the same place.
Roots growing through joints, recorded so they can be cut and the entry point sealed or lined.
A locator on the camera head traces the route and depth of the line from the surface, marked as it goes.
The City is rehabilitating the 400 mm sewer that carries Bellville CBD's sewage, where it runs under eight railway lines at Robert Sobukwe Road, Belrail Road and Suid Street. Sections had suffered what the project describes as complete pipe loss. The methods chosen are pipe-cracking and slip-lining, and the reason is the pipe's condition and its position. Digging under a railway was never the practical option.
A house drain is decided the same way, just at a smaller scale. Relining puts a new pipe inside the old one, which works when the old pipe still has its shape. A collapsed section, or a joint displaced badly enough to block the liner, cannot be lined and has to be excavated. Neither answer comes from a preference. It comes from what the footage shows.
A review of drain work in this area shows what happens when that link is broken. The homeowner paid for a camera inspection, was then told relining could not be done after all, and watched a day of digging go in the wrong direction. That is footage that was taken but not measured, on a line that was not traced from above.
So the inspection here produces three things. A recording of the whole line. A written note of each defect with its distance from the access point. And a mark on the ground above each one, located with a sonde on the camera head and with its depth recorded, so any excavation starts in the right place and goes down, not sideways.
Before you accept a relining or excavation quote, ask to see the footage and the marks. If the inspection cannot tell you what is wrong, where it is and whether it can be lined, it is not finished.
An inspection is only useful if it turns into the right repair. These rules keep the footage and the quote connected.
You keep the recording and can show it to anyone for a second opinion.
Every defect is located and marked on the surface before any digging is discussed.
The recommendation to reline, dig or leave comes with the reason from the footage.
A minor defect that is not causing problems is recorded and left, not sold as urgent.
An inspection is quoted as a fixed fee for filming and reporting on the line, agreed before the visit. If the drain has to be cleared first so the camera can pass, that is quoted separately. Call-outs are explained on the plumber prices page.
When a drain blocks repeatedly in the same place, before buying an older property, when there is an unexplained smell or damp near a drain, and before accepting a quote for relining or excavation.
No. Relining needs the old pipe to hold its shape well enough for the liner to pass and cure. Collapsed sections and badly displaced joints have to be excavated and replaced.
A sonde on the camera head transmits a signal that a locator picks up from the surface. It gives the position and depth of the camera at each defect, and that point is marked on the ground.
Yes. The recording is yours, together with a written list of the defects and their distances from the access point.
For an older property with mature trees or a history of blockages, it is worth considering. A defect found before transfer can be negotiated; one found after is yours.
The camera needs to pass along the line, so a drain that is fully blocked is cleared first. Clearing and filming are often done on the same visit.
It can show the type, position and extent of damage, which is what an assessor needs. Whether the damage is covered depends on your policy.
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Repeat blockages, a property purchase or a relining quote you want checked? Send the details and we will price the inspection.