Sewer inspection reports use a small set of words that sound roughly interchangeable and are not. Under the national inspection standard each one has a specific meaning, they run in order of severity, and several of them are not valid without a number attached.
We’re certified under that standard, we don’t do repairs, and we can’t sell you a sewer line replacement. So here’s what the words mean.
Cracked, fractured, broken, holed — four conditions, in order
These four are not synonyms and they are not a matter of opinion. They describe four increasing stages of damage:
- Crack — a break line you can see on the surface of the pipe, with no gap at all. Nothing has opened up.
- Fracture — the break has opened. There’s a visible gap, but the wall of the pipe is still where it belongs.
- Broken — pieces of pipe have shifted out of position. Sometimes you can see soil or a cavity behind them. A broken pipe still holds its overall shape.
- Hole — pieces are gone. Unless it’s a small one, you’ll see the surrounding ground through it.
So if your report says “cracked,” you have been told the mildest of the four — and the word specifically means nothing is open. That is a long way from a failed pipe, and it is a very long way from a reason to dig up your yard.
It also cuts the other way. If the report says hole, that is a real defect and we’ll say so plainly.
Deformed or collapsed? There’s a number, and it’s 40%
“Your line is collapsing” gets said a lot. Under the standard it isn’t a description — it’s a measurement.
- Deformed — the shape of the pipe has changed, but it has lost 40% or less of its cross-section.
- Collapsed — more than 40% gone, and structural integrity with it.
Both require a percentage to be recorded, in steps of 5%. So there’s a fair question to ask about any line you’ve been told is collapsing: what percentage was written down? If there isn’t one, the word was used loosely.
Standing water needs to reach 10% before it’s even reportable
A sag — a low spot where the grade dips and water sits — only gets coded when the water reaches 10% of the pipe’s height at the deepest point. And when it is coded, it carries a percentage.
Which means a bit of water lying in the bottom of a line is not, by itself, a reportable condition. It’s what the inside of an old sewer looks like.
There’s more on sags and bellies on the main inspection report page.
“Roots” without a percentage is an incomplete report
Roots also require a number — the percentage of the pipe’s cross-section they’re taking up, to the nearest 5% — and the type should be described: fine, medium, ball or tap.
That number is the whole story. Fine roots at 5% is a cleaning. A root ball at 75% is still a cleaning, but a more serious one. Neither is a replacement.
And roots on their own don’t imply a broken pipe. They enter through joints as a matter of course. Where there genuinely is a structural defect at the point the roots come in, that gets recorded as its own separate entry — so if the report shows roots and nothing else at that depth, no structural defect was found there.
The pattern worth taking away
Half of these conditions can’t be recorded properly without a figure. The figure is what separates a description from a diagnosis, and it’s the thing that tends to be missing when somebody is selling rather than reporting.
You don’t need to argue with anyone about whether your line is fine. You just need to ask what number went in the report — and if the answer is that there isn’t one, you’ve learned something.
Bring us your report
Call and read it to us. Cam answers the phone and will get you to the right person. Estimates are free, our prices are published, and there’s no trip charge in metro Denver or Aurora.
We put a camera down every line before we start and again after we finish, and the footage is yours to keep — permanently, including the parts that argue against us. We only do maintenance. We don’t replace sewer lines and we don’t dig, so when we tell you your line doesn’t need replacing, we aren’t turning down work. We never had it to sell.
Mon–Fri 8:00am–5:00pm. Free estimates across the Denver metro area.