When you purchase a property you will order a structural survey. What you may not know however is that your structural survey should be not just over ground but underground too. If the property you are looking to purchase is more than a few decades old, the drains may be in a state of disarray. If drain pipes have corroded, the land under your home could be suffering. There may be all types of nasty surprising hiding under your back lawn. The way to make sure that everything is good down below is to order a CCTV drain inspection.
Like pipework above ground, your drains need maintenance from time to time. But, as your drains are underground, they are easy to forget about. What this means is that the people who you are going to buy a property from may never have had a survey carried out either. Modern techniques now include CCTV, making it possible to see what really is going on underground.
CCTV Drain Inspection : Discovering What’s Going on Underground
If your drains are blocked and you cannot unblock them yourself, you will call a professional team for the job. If you have done this in recent years you will have noticed that your team will turn up with not just rods but cameras. These cameras will check the health of your sewers and drains properly, uncovering blockages, corroded pipes, and other more severe problems you may be blissfully aware of.
When purchasing a second hand home it is better to pay for a CCTV drain inspection than just hope for the best. “Out of sight out of mind” might be all fine and well, until you notice your garden is waterlogged or your sink won’t drain. There are many culprits for blocked drains, some of the most common being human hair and baby’s nappies. Unless you are going to physically check all sinks and drains when you view a property, you will never know about even the smallest of problems.
A CCTV drain survey will show the passage of water when a toilet is flushed, or when your washing machine empties. Any obstructions will show up on a screen, and you will be able to determine if they will be costly to repair or not. When you live within a community, this type of survey can pinpoint problems that are not necessarily within the bounds of your own property. Depending on where the problem lies, the council may actually be responsible for fixing it.
Conclusion
Underground surveys are as important as structural surveys when buying property. Replacing drain pipes that are on your property can be a costly affair, and cause months of disruption to you and to your neighbours. Being cautious can alleviate problems, and also alert the actual property owner to the problems they have. Repairing drains should not be your responsibility when you move in. Never agree to a lower price after a CCTV survey shows problems. Unless you obtain a quote for the work that needs carrying out first, as repairing and fixing problems with drains can be a very costly and unpleasant affair.