Drain camera inspection: when to have it done and what it reveals
A camera inspection is done when a precise question comes up: why it backs up, where the defect is, and whose it is. The situations where it settles the matter, what it shows, and what Boucherville, Longueuil and Brossard say about it.
Updated
The signs that justify an inspection
A camera inspection is not routine maintenance. It answers a precise question: why is water not draining, and where is the defect? The signs below have one thing in common: they involve the main drain or the sewer connection, not a single fixture. A slow sink is fixed at the trap; a basement that backs up is not fixed blind.
- Blockages that keep coming back at the same spot, even after a properly done clearing.
- A basement backup, especially one that hits your house and not your neighbours’. The City of Longueuil in fact asks you to check with them first.
- Gurgling in the toilet or tub when another fixture drains: water is struggling to get past something downstream.
- A persistent sewer smell in the basement, with no obvious cause.
- A floor drain that empties slowly, or lets water rise during heavy rain.
- Large trees near the route of the connection, between the house and the street.
Before buying a house, especially an older one
A general pre-purchase inspection covers what can be seen. The sewer connection is buried between the foundation and the street. CMHC advises buyers to hire a qualified inspector to check whether the sewer system and drains “are working properly”, and to find out whether the pipe connecting the house to the main line in the street has been replaced recently.
The question weighs more in an older house. Unless it has been redone, the connection is as old as the house, and it has had decades to shift. In its residential plumbing guide, CMHC names exactly what to look for when drainage is a problem: defects, root intrusion, sagging.
The right moment is during the inspection period set in your offer to purchase, when what the camera reveals can still weigh in the negotiation. Ask the seller, too, whether a video from an earlier inspection exists.
After a backup: establishing the cause, for the insurer and for the City
After a backup, two questions arise: where the problem comes from, and who pays. The camera answers the first, and shapes the second.
On the insurance side, the Insurance Bureau of Canada points out that most standard policies do not cover damage caused by sewer and drain backup: you need optional coverage. Check yours, and ask your insurer what documents it expects before work begins. A filmed, dated inspection shows the state of the connection at the time of the loss, before the repair erases the evidence.
On the municipal side, the finding is sometimes a condition. In Longueuil, when the condition of a public connection is in question, the owner must give the City a camera inspection demonstrating it before the City carries out corrective work; if work turns out to be needed on the public side, the City reimburses the reasonable cost of that inspection (by-law CO-2021-1141, article 29). The image must show the date, the time and the distance travelled, and the City may refuse a video that does not meet its requirements.
Finally, CAA-Québec notes that some insurers require a backflow prevention system to be installed after a loss. Our article on backwater valve subsidies covers the aid available.
Before renovating the basement or touching the foundation drain
Finishing a basement means covering the floor drain, the clean-outs and the base of the walls. Inspecting first means not reopening a new floor.
It is also the time to read your town’s by-law, because what the camera finds can change the scope of the job. In Boucherville, by-law 2015-232 requires a certificate of authorization to excavate a private connection or rebuild a foundation drain (article 5). When a planned repair is made to a connection or the foundation drain, the owner must replace all three private connections — sanitary, storm and water — at their own expense, or add a storm connection if there is none (article 10), subject to the exceptions in the by-law. The work must be done or supervised by a plumber accredited by the CMMTQ (article 8).
In Brossard, the City reminds owners that a permit is mandatory to repair or replace water and sewer pipes on private property, as it is to install or rebuild a French drain.
What the camera shows
Fed in through a clean-out or another access point, the camera sends the image of the inside of the pipe to a monitor. It shows the cause, where clearing only treats the effect:
- Roots, entering through a joint or a crack, from the first fine rootlets to the mass that catches everything that passes.
- Reverse slopes and sags: a section where water stands instead of flowing, and where deposits build up.
- Cracks, offset joints, broken or crushed sections.
- Grease and other deposits on the pipe walls.
- Connections: where branches join, and the condition of those junctions.
- The distance travelled, shown on screen, which places the defect relative to the foundation and the property line.
What it does not do
It is a diagnosis, not a repair, and its limits matter as much as what it offers.
- It clears nothing. A full line cannot be filmed usefully: the City of Longueuil in fact asks for the connection to be cleared before the camera goes in.
- It only sees the inside of the pipe: nothing of the soil around it, the foundation or the walls. So it does not replace a building inspection.
- It does not cover the water service line, a different, pressurised pipe.
- It does not decide responsibility. Your town’s by-law says where your share ends; the video serves to place the defect relative to that line.
Foundation drain or sewer connection: two different pipes
The sewer connection carries the house’s wastewater to the municipal main. The foundation drain — the “French drain” — collects groundwater around the foundation to keep it away from the basement. In Boucherville, water collected by the foundation drain must flow to the private storm sewer connection, by gravity or through a sump pit (by-law 2015-232, article 44).
A backup points to the sewer; seepage through the walls or slab, to the foundation drain. CAA-Québec lists among the signs of infiltration whitish crystals on concrete, cracks appearing in the foundation and ochre-coloured water in the sump, deposits that can end up blocking the drain itself. Its advice: have the drain checked with an optical camera.
To reach it, the expert favours clean-outs, the sump or the storm sewer; failing that, one or more trenches have to be dug outside. Depending on the image, the fix ranges from high-pressure water cleaning to a partial rebuild, up to complete replacement of the drain — a major job for which CAA-Québec advises comparing quotes from two or three contractors.
Private side, municipal side: who pays for what
The principle is the same everywhere: what belongs to you is your responsibility. But the line between your share and the City’s is not drawn in the same place from one municipality to the next — and that is what the distance recorded by the camera lets you locate.
Never assume the neighbouring town’s rule is yours: read your own by-law, or call your town, before digging.
- Boucherville — the private connection runs from the building all the way to the public main, right-of-way section included, and is for the owner’s exclusive use (by-law 2015-232, art. 3). The owner must keep it in good condition “over [its] full length” (art. 9). The City can require a camera inspection, at the owner’s expense, if it has reason to believe it is not in good condition (art. 40), and carry out neglected repairs itself, also at the owner’s expense (art. 16).
- Longueuil, Saint-Hubert and Greenfield Park — the private connection stops at the right-of-way line; beyond it is the public connection. Work on the private side is at the owner’s cost and under the owner’s full responsibility (by-law CO-2021-1141, art. 6). The City’s maintenance of the public side excludes cleaning made necessary by material coming from private property (art. 28). If both sides are at fault, the private side is repaired first, then the City is notified.
- Brossard — the City is in no case liable for damage caused by a backup due to an obstruction, a break or a defect in the networks located on private property (by-law REG-485, art. 128).
What to do, in order
Whether you are facing a backup, a purchase or a renovation, doing things in order keeps you from paying twice — once to dig in the wrong place, and again to dig in the right one.
1. Note what you observe
Which fixtures are affected, since when, and whether the problem follows heavy rain. A single slow drain does not call for a camera; several drains, a floor drain or a backup do.
2. After a backup, talk to your neighbours and notify the City
If your neighbours are affected too, the problem may lie in the municipal network. In Longueuil, dial 311. In Boucherville, the City asks to be contacted without delay at 450 449-8630 during office hours, or 450 463-7011 outside them.
3. Have the line cleared, then filmed
The camera needs a line that flows. Ask for the image to show the date, the time and the distance travelled, and keep a copy of the video with the report.
4. Place the defect relative to your property line
The recorded distance, read against your municipal by-law, tells you whether the problem is on your side or the City’s.
5. Talk to your insurer before the work
Check your sewer backup coverage and send the finding before the repair erases the evidence.
6. Check the permit, then ask for a quote
A certificate of authorization in Boucherville, a permit in Brossard, a contractor holding the appropriate RBQ licence. The quote should target the filmed defect, at the recorded distance.