No pressure, no floor demo before we know what is actually down there. Camera first, both paths quoted, you decide.
The first visit is a camera and a conversation. Nothing else.
Most people who call us just got a 4-point inspection back with cast iron flagged, and their insurer put them on a clock. They are scared it is a five-figure job and scared the first guy through the door will make it worse than it is. That is a fair worry. Some outfits sell the biggest fix on the board before they have looked at anything.
We do it in the opposite order. We look first. Here is the whole process.
Upload it through the form and we will read it before we ever come out. A 4-point that names cast iron pre-1975 tells us the age of the plumbing and roughly what your insurer is reacting to. It does not tell us whether the pipe is channeled, spalling, or still fine. Only a camera does that. But it lets us show up already knowing your situation instead of guessing on the driveway.
We run a sewer camera through your drain line and record the whole run. This is the step that decides everything. We are looking for two failure patterns. Channeling, where the bottom of the pipe has eroded away and the wall is thin. And spalling, where rust scale has built up and is choking the flow. One line can have a little of both, or one bad forty-foot stretch and the rest tired but intact.
You see what we see. We are not going to describe a problem you cannot look at. If the pipe is fine, the camera says so and we tell you that too. We give out more second opinions than people expect. If your line does not need to come out, that is your answer, and it did not cost you a floor.
When there is real damage, there are usually two honest ways to fix it, and we price both. Trenchless lining, when the pipe is intact enough to hold a new liner inside it and there is no floor to tear up. Full replacement, when the pipe is channeled through or collapsed and a liner has nothing to grip. We explain why we would lean one way, and we do not hide the cheaper option to sell the bigger one. If lining will actually hold, we will tell you lining will actually hold. How the two compare is covered in our lining vs replacement guide.
You take the footage and both numbers and sit with them. No same-day pressure. If your insurance deadline is tight, we will tell you honestly how tight, but the decision is yours.
Start wherever you are comfortable:
Camera first. Both paths. You decide.
Upload the report or a photo of the pipe. We will read it and tell you what it actually means for your pipes - repair or replace, honestly, no site visit needed. We respond within one business day.