San Diego · San Diego County · Oceanside to Chula Vista
Sewer line repair in San Diego
Backed-up shower, gurgling toilet, a wet patch in the yard that never dries. In San Diego the pipe under it is usually 60-year-old cast iron or clay, and the honest fix depends on what a camera shows. We look first, put a price in writing, and only dig where there is no better way.
How a job goes
- You call or text
Tell us what's backing up, where, and roughly when the house was built. If sewage is on the floor, we come the same day. - We clear and camera the line
Cable or hydro jet to get you draining, then a camera from the cleanout to the main. You see the footage on the screen, and we save it for you. - You get a written price
Spot repair, lining, bursting or open-trench, each priced separately if more than one would work. No deposit for a repair, and the price holds for 30 days. - We do the work
Spot repairs and linings are usually one day. A full pipe burst is one to two. Permits, DigAlert marking and the city inspection are on us. - We camera it again
Every repair gets a post-job camera pass so you can see it's right. Lining and bursting carry a written workmanship warranty.
Sewer services across San Diego
Repair the bad section when that's honest. Reline or burst the whole lateral when it isn't. The camera decides, not the sales pitch.
Sewer Line Repair
Backups cleared, roots cut, the line hydro jetted and cameraed, and a spot repair where one section is broken and the rest is sound.
Sewer Line Repair →Sewer Line Replacement
A new lateral from the house to the main when the old cast iron or clay is done. Open-trench where it makes sense, trenchless where it doesn't.
Sewer Line Replacement →Trenchless Sewer Repair
Pipe lining and pipe bursting through one or two small pits, so the driveway, the patio and the city sidewalk stay where they are.
Trenchless Sewer Repair →Sewer Camera Inspection
A recorded camera run from the cleanout to the main, with the break located from the surface. The basis for every honest quote, and the first thing to do before buying an old house.
Sewer Camera Inspection →Under-Slab Sewer Repair
Rusted-out cast iron under the kitchen and bath of a 1950s slab home: lined in place, tunneled to, or re-routed, with the least concrete cut.
Under-Slab Sewer Repair →Why San Diego sewer lines fail the way they do
Most of the houses we work on were built between the 1920s and the mid-1960s: North Park, Normal Heights, Kensington, Clairemont, Point Loma, La Mesa, the older streets of Chula Vista and El Cajon. Inside and under those houses the drain lines are cast iron. From the foundation out to the street the lateral is usually vitrified clay in three or four foot lengths, joined with mortar or a tar-and-hemp packing that gave up decades ago.
Cast iron rusts from the inside. After 50 or 60 years the bottom of the pipe is scaled, rough and thin, and eventually a section of the floor of the pipe is simply gone. Clay doesn't rust, but every joint is a gap, and San Diego roots go looking for gaps. Ficus, eucalyptus, pepper trees and jacarandas on a lawn that gets watered twice a week and a pipe that leaks a little every day: the roots win. In a drought year they hunt harder.
The ground makes it worse. Much of the inland part of the city sits on expansive clay. It swells in the January rains and shrinks through a dry September, and the slab and the pipe under it move a fraction of an inch each cycle. A clay joint offsets, a cast iron hub cracks, and now there's a low spot where paper collects.
What we actually do
Sewer line repair — clearing the immediate backup, then finding out why it happened. Roots cut and the line hydro jetted clean, a camera run to see what's left, and a spot repair where one section is broken and the rest is sound. Most spot repairs are $1,500–$4,000.
Sewer line replacement — when the camera shows a lateral that's failing along its length, not in one place. Open-trench where the pipe runs under lawn or dirt; trenchless where it runs under a driveway, patio or the street.
Trenchless sewer repair — cured-in-place lining and pipe bursting through one or two small pits instead of a trench across the property. This is the majority of full replacements we do in San Diego, because the alternative is cutting up a driveway and a city sidewalk.
Sewer camera inspection — $250–$500, and the only honest basis for a repair quote. Also the thing to do before you buy a house from 1958.
Under-slab sewer repair — the cast iron under the kitchen and hall bath of a 1950s Clairemont or Allied Gardens ranch. Tunneling, an overhead re-route, or lining the line in place, depending on what's broken.
Where we work
The City of San Diego from Point Loma to San Ysidro and the whole of the inner county: Chula Vista and National City to the south, La Mesa, El Cajon and Santee to the east, Poway inland, and Carlsbad, Encinitas and Oceanside up the coast. Area codes 619 and 858. Sewer line repair Chula Vista to Oceanside is the same crew and the same pricing; La Mesa and Encinitas have their own pages because we're in both most weeks.
Before you call anyone
Three things worth knowing. First, in the City of San Diego you own the lateral all the way to the main, including the part under the street, so nobody from the city is coming to fix it. We wrote up who owns the sewer lateral. Second, a contractor who quotes a full replacement without showing you camera footage is guessing, or worse. Third, California requires a CSLB C-36 plumbing or C-42 sanitation license for this work. We carry it; ask anyone you call for theirs and check it on the CSLB site.
If it's an emergency sewer repair San Diego-wide — sewage coming up in a tub or out of the yard cleanout — say so when you call, and go to the front of the day.
Questions we get asked
How much does sewer line repair cost in San Diego?
A spot repair on one broken section is typically $1,500–$4,000. A full lateral replacement runs $4,000–$15,000 open-trench and $6,000–$20,000 trenchless, more if the line runs a long way under the street. A camera inspection is $250–$500 and is where every honest quote starts. The cost page has the tables.
Do I need a camera inspection before a repair?
For anything beyond clearing a clog, yes. The camera shows whether you have one broken joint or 70 feet of scaled cast iron, how deep the pipe is, and where it goes. Without it a contractor is quoting from experience and guesswork, and you can't compare two quotes because neither one is based on the same information.
Is trenchless sewer repair possible on my house?
Usually. Lining needs a pipe that's still roughly round and continuous; pipe bursting needs a straight-enough run and room for two pits. The cases where it doesn't work are a fully collapsed section, a badly bellied line, or a pipe with too many tight turns. The camera tells us which, and we'll say so if open-trench is the better job.
Who is responsible for the sewer lateral in San Diego?
In the City of San Diego, the property owner, from the house all the way to the connection at the main, including the section under the sidewalk and street. Some other agencies in the county draw the line at the property boundary. Our lateral ownership guide goes through it, and the city's Public Utilities Department can confirm your address.
Can tree roots really break a sewer pipe?
Yes, and in San Diego they do it constantly. Roots enter at a clay joint or a crack in cast iron, grow until they fill the pipe, and as they thicken they lever the joint apart. Cutting the roots buys six to eighteen months. Sealing the joint out with a liner, or replacing the pipe, ends it. See tree roots in sewer lines.
Are you licensed?
California requires a CSLB license, C-36 plumbing or C-42 sanitation system, for sewer lateral work, and a permit from the city for replacement. We carry the license and general liability and workers' comp insurance, and we'll give you the number to check on the CSLB website before we start. Ask any contractor for the same.
Need sewer line work in San Diego?
Call for a free estimate. Mon–Sat 7am–7pm.