How to Diagnose a Broken Sewer Line

A professional plumber can help you determine if you have a broken sewer line, but there are some signs that you can look for on your own:

• A foul odor that smells like sewage.
• Slow draining sinks or toilets or drains backing up in your home.
• Unusual gurgling sounds in drains or toilets.
• Raw sewage backups or wastewater coming up through drains or toilets.
• A soggy yard when there has not been heavy rain.
• Unusually lush patches of grass due to grass using leaking wastewater as fertilizer.
• Sinkholes in the ground due to extra water sitting underneath.
• Foundation cracks or walls cracking.

If you notice any of these signs, call a licensed plumber right away! A nearby plumbing company will have the expertise and tools to accurately diagnose the problem and get it fixed right away before further damage results. Remember that working with sewer lines can be hazardous and messy, so it's often best to leave the diagnosis and repair to trained plumbing professionals to protect your family.

If you’re not sure whether you have a broken sewer line, call a local plumber who can do a sewer camera inspection. The plumber that comes out will snake a camera into your sewer line to look for cracks, holes, or root intrusions. If that doesn’t reveal anything conclusive, a professional plumber can also use a dye test to look for leaks by flushing a special dye down the toilet and observing whether that dye appears anywhere that it shouldn’t.

When you have concerns about your sewer line, give us a call at 1 (800) 674-9130 to have a licensed plumber diagnose the problem.

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