Do I need the whole sewer line replaced, or just one section?

The question the footage answers

A sewer line is a chain of sections, and they do not all fail together. The useful question is not "is the line good or bad" but "which sections are failed, which are failing, and which are fine." A full-length camera inspection with distances and a surface trace gives you exactly that map, and the decision falls out of it.

When a spot repair is the right call

• One collapsed or crushed section in a line that is otherwise round and continuous.
• One belly that needs re-grading, with sound pipe either side.
• One severe offset the camera cannot pass.
• A broken connection at the main or a failed tap into a shared line.
• A section damaged by recent digging (a new water service, a fence post, a tree removal).

In each case the defect has a start and an end, the locator marks both on the surface with depth, and the excavation is sized to it. Under lawn at moderate depth that is a small hole and new pipe on compacted bedding, joined to the existing line with proper transition couplings.

When the whole line is the job

• Defects at multiple points — three offsets and a root mass are not three spot repairs, they are a line that has lost its joints.
• Deformed or delaminating material: Orangeburg, concrete with the crown gone, cast iron channelled along its length.
• More bad footage than good.
• A line that is undersized for the house or for an added unit.
• A line whose route is going under something new — a garage, an addition, a paved driveway — where you want it done once.

Whole-line does not have to mean a trench. Bursting replaces the run from two pits; lining rebuilds it from a cleanout. Open-trench replacement is for short, shallow, accessible runs or where the route needs to change.

The middle path many Seattle lines take

The most common report on a pre-1960 house reads something like: roots at four joints, one moderate offset at the property line, sound pipe otherwise. That is not a spot repair — the joints will keep admitting roots — and it is not a replacement either. It is one small excavation to reset the offset, then a liner through the whole run to seal every joint. The dig stays small, the disruption stays low, and the line ends up jointless end to end. Bids that offer only "replace everything" or only "clear it again" are both leaving that option out.

Comparing the options on one line

Where the surface comes in

The same defect under lawn, under a driveway, and under a garage slab are three different jobs. The trace tells you which you have, and it is fair to let the surface tip the decision: a spot repair under lawn is easy; a spot repair under a new driveway may make bursting the whole run from two pits at the edges the smaller disturbance. Ask any bidder to say, in writing, what is being repaired from where to where, and what is being done with the rest of the line. The bid comparison article shows what that looks like.