Sewer Camera Inspection in Temple Hills, MD

Most Temple Hills homes went up between the 1950s and 1970s, so many sewer lines here are more than fifty years old. A camera inspection travels through the line from your home toward the WSSC Water main and shows roots, cracks, offsets or buildup and where they are. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Temple Hills.

Temple Hills in brief

Temple Hills is a mostly residential community of garden apartments, duplexes and single-family neighborhoods near the Metro Green Line and Joint Base Andrews. The median home was built around 1973, and a lot of the plumbing is original. The Temple Hills mailing address covers a wider area than the community itself, taking in places such as Marlow Heights and Hillcrest Heights. Across it, WSSC Water runs the public sewer. Lines that have served a house for half a century often carry roots at the joints, sections that have shifted with the soil and interior walls roughened by decades of use, all of which catch grease and paper and turn into repeat clogs.

What to do now

Limit water use if drains are backing up; skip laundry and the dishwasher.
Check whether neighbors are having the same problem. If they are, or sewage is overflowing outdoors, call WSSC Water at 301-206-4002.
Find the cleanout, often a capped pipe near the foundation or in the basement.
If you're in a duplex or apartment building, find out whether the line is shared.
Arrange to have the line cleared if needed and then filmed.

Call now to be connected with a local plumber in Temple Hills.

(202) 915-7612

Symptoms and likely causes

Symptom	Likely cause
The same clog keeps coming back	Roots growing through a joint
Slow drains throughout the house	Scale or grease narrowing an older pipe
Basement floor drain backs up during laundry	A partial blockage in the building sewer
Gurgling in a toilet as the tub drains	Restricted flow farther down the line
A wet, sunken patch in the yard	A broken or separated pipe section

Cost factors

The main things that move the price are access, whether the line has to be opened before the camera can see, the length of the run and whether defects need to be traced and marked from the surface. Shared lines in duplexes and small apartment buildings can mean filming more pipe. A copy of the recording is worth asking for. If a repair follows, plumbing permits in Prince George's County come from WSSC Water, not the county, and sewer service line work has to be done by a plumber holding a WSSC license. Building permits for unincorporated Temple Hills come from Prince George's County.

Sewer Camera Inspection questions in Temple Hills

Can roots be seen on the camera?

Yes. Roots look like hair-thin strands or dense masses at the joints, a frequent finding in Temple Hills lines that date to the 1950s through 1970s.

Who fixes a problem the camera finds between my house and the street?

Repairs on your side of the WSSC connection are plumbing work done by a plumber holding a WSSC license under a WSSC permit. In a duplex or apartment, check who owns any shared section first.

How long does the inspection take?

A routine inspection from an accessible cleanout often takes about an hour. Clearing a full line or going through a toilet adds time.

Is it worth filming the sewer line before buying a house here?

Often, yes. With so much original plumbing in Temple Hills, footage of the line before closing tells you what you're buying.