Pipe from House to Sewer Clean Out

[Morpheus1967]

Hello all. Introductory post here. I am in the midst of a point of sale inspection to sell my house. One of the things I need to provide is a video of the inside of the sewer pipe from my house to the street. I had a plumber in today to do this.

Because the only two toilets in my house are back to back in the house, the plumber needed to go to the roof, and feed the camera through the vent pipe there, and was able to get the video I needed. He told me the pipe was full of roots, but I literally have no idea what I am looking at. He told me in order to get rid of the roots, I need to install a sewer line cleanout, the hydro jet the entire thing. The cost he gave me was $2000.

My question is this. He said he "didn't think" anyone would do the pipe cleaning from the roof vent. He basically only gave me the option of getting the clean out installed. I wish I knew what I was looking at in the video, but I just don't. The file is rather large, so I don't think I would be able too upload it.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Matt

Edited to add:
I have never experienced any sort of slow draining at all. I would have never known there was an issue until this guy told me there were roots.

 

[oz-plumber]

You will be able to see clearly in the video if tree roots are present.
Generally all drains are dry - except when in use.
You may find some sections holding water, but not the whole drain.

If you can see tree roots, you will need them jetted.
If need be, remove a toilet to access the drain. Had to do that last week - pleasant job, not!!!, and the clean up

 

[Chuck]

The cost he gave me was $2000.

Seems expensive for just jetting, which is a temporary measure as the roots will just grow back again unless gaps they've found are sealed.

A 'permanent' repair might involve removing the roots by jetting (or with a special cutter) and then lining the drain with epoxy resin. This is done by inserting a liner, expanding it with pressurised water and then passing hot water through to get the epoxy to set. It may be that this is what you've been quoted for, in which case $2000 wouldn't surprise me.

I'm in the UK, your local rules, repair methods and prices may differ from the ones I'm familiar with.