“What is that? I’ve never had to do that before, and I’ve bought a lot of houses,” I said to my well-meaning agent. She had just suggested that I order a sewer scope during the inspection period.
“It just sort of makes sure everything is OK down there. No clogs and such. It’s pretty standard when you buy a house here.”
By this point, I’d extended my one week stay in FoCo to two weeks, to continue house shopping. I’d backed out of a deal because during the inspection we discovered problematic and unpermitted DIY work. If you want to know what “unpermitted” means, hop over to my blog entitled Three Things I Wish I Knew About Buying A Home in FoCo.
So I’d lost money on one inspection already, and I needed to settle soon because I had a new job starting soon. Sewer scopes never came up in Ohio or Missouri where I’d bought all of my previous homes. I also thought that my agent might be trying to send referrals to a local plumber, since that kind of give-and-take sometimes happens in the real estate industry.
I was overconfident and unforgivably suspicious, and decided against the sewer scope.
As someone who spent 20 years working with water and wastewater treatment plant operators, I should have known better. Read on to understand why sewer scopes are so necessary if you’re buying a home in Fort Collins, and why my agent was right.
What Is A Sewer Scope?
A few months ago I rode my bike by a beautiful older home, with mature trees and a pristine yard…except for a huge trench that a workman was climbing out of. I asked him what the mess was all about. He said “scope found tree roots,” as if everyone would understand that. I didn’t connect his comment to my conversation with my agent 18 months prior, and he didn’t appear to be in the mood for chit chat so I moved on.
But the topic continued to linger in my mind, so I decided to investigate. The “scope” that workman and my agent were referring to is a video inspection of a home’s sewer lateral. A licensed plumber threads a specialized camera through the line and records footage of the entire pipe from the inside. The inspection reveals what you can’t see: cracks, root intrusion, belly sags, collapsed sections, or outdated materials like Orangeburg pipe (I liked this blog on Orangeburg pipe’s history from a company in California).
Interesting note–it’s not uncommon for the access point for the inspection to be on your roof. Yeah, weird. That “cleanout” point is actually a sanitary waste vent, since odors and fumes can emanate from sewer lines. Commonly the access point is in the yard somewhere, but the roof vent is also a place where the scope can be threaded through.
Now that you know what a sewer scope is, let’s talk about why one is so necessary in Fort Collins.
Why Is A Sewer Scope Especially Important In Fort Collins?
I called Hahn Plumbing, a Fort Collins plumbing and HVAC company which performs these inspections routinely. There I was connected to Dawn, a business development manager who was a fount of knowledge on sewer scopes. As she explained, aging infrastructure, increasing use of flushable wipes, nature, and even well-meaning water conservation efforts all conflate to make sewer scopes absolutely necessary in Fort Collins.
Aging infrastructure seems like a no-brainer. Pipes get old, they leak, they might break. Well, fine, replace them.
But it’s actually a little more complex than that. In the older parts of Fort Collins, such as–you guessed it–OLD Town, plumbing was first installed as long as 120 years ago. Those original cast iron pipes started to wear out about 80 years ago, and started to be replaced with clay pipes, according to Dawn. Additional research I did showed that in addition to clay, sometimes more cast iron, or Orangeburg pipe I mentioned earlier, was used. Any of these three materials presents issues.
The first issue is that the cast iron and Orangeburg wear such that their inner surface can become rough. That rough surface is easier for stuff, from toilet paper to teddy bears, to get caught on.
This is just one reason that “flushable” wipes are a problem. I worked in the water industry for over 20 years, and every wastewater plant manager I’ve ever met hates them, and so do all the plumbers. They hate them because flushable wipes don’t break down like toilet paper, so they have to be filtered out. That makes treatment and disposal of the waste solids a lot more expensive.
Dawn at Hahn (yes, it rhymes), mentioned them as frequent source of clogging in residential pipes, especially older pipes that have that rougher inner surface. Realtor.com published a 2025 article on how “flushable” wipes are wrecking home plumbing systems.
My point:
Please stop using them!
Or put them in the trash, not down the toilet. Install a bidet if you need a better option to plain toilet paper.
So summing up the first point about why you need to do a sewer scope: older pipes are more likely to clog, and there are a lot of older pipes in Fort Collins. Thus, there’s just a need to check for forming clogs and possibly to replace these pipes with more modern materials (like PVC).
The clay replacement pipes are aging in a different way, which makes them more vulnerable to intrusion by tree roots. There is material science, hydrology, and biology at play on this one.
Dawn explained that the clay pipe came in 2-5 foot sections. It was therefore jointed and the joints were sealed with a material that wears down with time. Those joints, as well as microfractures in older pipes, become an intrusion point for thirsty roots.
Biologically, we have trees and plants in FoCo that are absolute pros at finding water. They have to be, because of the arid environment. A classic example is cottonwoods, which have a wide root system that extends way beyond the tree’s above-ground canopy, in search of water. Their roots grow rapidly and are water-seeking ninjas that WILL find a way into those clay pipes.
The Unintended Consequences Of Water Conservation On Your Sewer System
I’ve always been a vocal advocate for water conservation, such as the installation of low-water-use toilets that I first encountered on business travel in Europe. But as Dawn explained, in spite of the good intentions, the trend towards low-flow toilets is leading to more clogged pipes.
Pre-1970s, toilets used 2 gallons of water to flush. In the 1970s environmentalism took hold in the U.S. Toilets started using less water: 1.6 gal. In the 2010s new standards led to the 1.28 gal toilets that are most commonly sold today. By 2030 the goal is for toilets to use only one gallon of water per flush. Dawn had clearly done her homework; I found this same information at the USEPA’s website on residential toilets.
Less water makes it harder for stuff to flow through, and so clogging might be more likely with low-flow toilets. Combined with the rough inner surface of aging pipes, one can see that older homes might be more prone to these issues.
Cities and housing planners are implementing strategies to reduce clogging risks as low-flow toilets become more common. First, PVC is the material of choice for new laterals. Second, the city sewer lines are a little deeper relative to the lateral lines running from homes, in new housing developments. The increased downhill slope helps stuff move better though the pipes (just like a downhill ski slope is faster, for you Colorado natives out there).
What You Need To Do
Every time I see a yard torn up with a backhoe, I think about that conversation with my agent. She was trying to protect me, and I really should have listened. My advice is that you should do two things.
1. Get a sewer scope during the inspection period.
This is an absolute must if you are in the more central parts of the city or near downtown (Old Town, City Park, Andersonville, Alta Vista), or are in an area with established trees. What the inspection costs ($300-450) pales in comparison to what you might face without it. Sewer line repairs start around $5,000 for spot repairs and can exceed $15,000 for full replacements. There can also be damage to basements due to backups and broken lines. And unlike other home repairs, sewer problems don’t wait – they announce themselves at the worst possible moments, such as right after you’ve closed on the house or when you’ve got guests over.
2. Don’t flush “flushable” wipes.
Flushable wipes are a scourge on plumbing and infrastructure. Even if you’re in a newly built home, your wastewater treatment plant is going to have to deal with them, which drives up costs. Think of them like a diaper. You wouldn’t flush that, would you? I have the same advice for tampons, ladies. Bear in mind this is also an investment in your future. Even if you don’t have an issue today, if you’re creating a problem for the next owner of that home, you might have to deal with it when they get a sewer scope.
A Note For Condo Buyers
If you’re buying a condominium, it can’t hurt to ask specific questions about sewer line responsibility before you buy:
- Does the HOA cover the lateral line from your unit to the main sewer?
- Or are you only responsible from your unit to the building’s connection?
- What does the CC&R actually say about this?
Like so many things, get this in writing, and if there’s any ambiguity, get a sewer scope anyway.
What Happens if the Scope Finds a Problem?
Finding an issue during your inspection period is actually the best outcome, because it’s the only time you have negotiating power. If that happens your options are:
- Ask the seller to fix it before closing. This is ideal but sellers may push back on expensive repairs.
- Negotiate a credit at closing. You get cash to fix it yourself after you move in, choosing your own plumber.
- Walk away if it’s severe. A completely collapsed line or extensive root intrusion might cost $15,000-20,000 to fix – that could change whether the house is a good deal.
What you DON’T want is to discover the problem three months after closing when you have zero leverage and a sewage backup in your basement. Trust me – and trust your agent – on this one.
