Sewer Line Repair Begins With Whose Pipe It Is
The sewer lateral is the pipe from your house to the main, and it is yours. Build-era data for 4,387 towns, what the pipe is likely made of, and who to call.
Free to homeowners — the contractor pays us for the introduction, you never do.
In short
The run of pipe between a building and the public sewer main belongs to the property it serves, not to the utility, which owns only the main. Where that responsibility ends varies by municipality, and it is the one thing worth establishing locally before anything fails.
- You are never chargedContractors pay us when we route them a call. There is no cost to the homeowner, ever.
- Every figure names its sourceThe numbers on this site come from public data and the page says which, so you can check them.
- We say where we coverCalls are routed by ZIP code to independent contractors.See the coverage
- We say when not to callIf the fix is a few minutes of your own time, this site tells you that instead of selling you a visit.
What this site is
TrenchPoint is a referral service, not a contractor. We connect homeowners with independent contractors. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands. Every state page sets out who licenses plumbers there and where to check, so you can confirm before work begins. We do not perform excavation or repair, we do not set prices, and we never charge homeowners anything — the contractors in our network pay us when we route them a call.Almost everything that goes wrong with a sewer lateral is invisible until it is urgent. The run is buried, it belongs to the property owner rather than the utility, and the first sign of trouble is usually a drain that has been slow for months.
Start with what is likely under your yard
The build year of a house is the single best predictor of what its lateral is made of, and material decides how the pipe fails and what can be done about it. We publish that data for 4,387 towns across 38 states, ZIP code by ZIP code where we have it.
- Clay laterals — fail at the joints, not along the length
- Orangeburg — goes oval rather than cracking, and cannot be rodded back to working order
- Cast iron — loses bore slowly along the bottom of the pipe
- PVC and ABS — rarely the problem; fall usually is
Then work out which question you are asking
- The same backup keeps coming backA drain that clears and blocks again on a cycle is telling you something a drain that blocks once is not.
- I have been offered a camera surveyA camera survey is only worth what the recording tells you.
- I have a quote and I do not know if it is the right workWhen a spot repair is honest and when it is a deposit on a second job.
- I do not know whether this is mine or the city’s
- I want to know what this costs
Get the run looked at
Tell us your ZIP code and what the drain is doing. We check it against partner coverage and put you through to an independent contractor who works that area. We do not do the work and you are never charged.
Where we route calls
Tap your state for the towns and ZIP codes we route in, and the figures behind them.
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Iowa
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- Maine
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this site is public and attributed. You can go and check any of them.
- HousingUS Census BureauAmerican Community Survey 5-year estimates — the housing figures on every town page, and the table each one comes from is named on the page.
What happens when you call
No form, no quote tool, no waiting for an email.
- You tell us what the water is doingOne short conversation. If it turns out to be something you can fix in five minutes, we will say so.
- We route the callWe match your ZIP code to an independent contractor who already covers your area — not a call center three states away.
- They quote, you decideWe do not set prices and we never charge you. The contractor pays us for the introduction.
- 4,387towns with a page of their own
- 38states we route calls in
- $0what a homeowner ever pays us
What to do first
Four things worth doing first. They cost nothing and they can keep a small problem small.
- Shut off the water closest to the problemUnder a sink or behind a toilet there is usually a small valve on the supply line. Turning it clockwise stops that fixture without shutting off the rest of the house.
- If you cannot find it, use the mainUsually where the supply enters the building — a basement wall, a crawl space, or a covered box near the street. Then open the lowest tap in the house, which drains the standing water out of the pipes instead of out of the leak.
- Water and electricity: stay out of the roomIf water has reached an outlet, a panel or an appliance, switch that circuit off at the breaker before going near it. If you cannot do that safely, do not go in, and say so when you call.
- Photograph it before anything is movedInsurers ask for it, and a contractor can tell more from a photograph of the leak than from a description of it.
And one case where the answer is not to call us. If the water is surfacing on the street side of your meter, that is the utility's line and not yours. Report it to your water utility — they do not charge a homeowner to repair their own main.
Before anybody excavates.A camera survey is a different instruction from a repair, and the order matters. Tell us what the drain is doing and we will route you to somebody who covers your area. No charge to you, ever. Anything else the plumbing is doing can be raised on that call too.
Call (866) 857-3202
