Sewer Line Repair in Tampa, FL

One slow sink is usually a branch drain. The main sewer line shows itself when several fixtures act up at the same time, or when a clog comes back within weeks of being cleared.

Most of the sewer laterals we open in Tampa fail for one of a handful of reasons, and the age of the house predicts a lot of it.

We go in through the cleanout, or pull a toilet if there isn't one, and push a camera from the house toward the main. The camera shows the material, every joint, and every defect, along with the distance from the entry point.

A locator picks up a signal from the camera head so we can mark the exact spot on the ground and estimate its depth. That mark is what makes a point repair possible: we dig one hole over the break instead of trenching the yard to find it.

You get to watch the footage with us, and we tell you what each defect means. If the line only needs cleaning, we'll say so. A camera inspection also makes sense before you buy an older Tampa home, and after any second backup in a year.

When the camera finds a single failure, like one cracked joint, a root-packed offset, or a short collapsed stretch, and the rest of the pipe is sound, we dig over that spot, cut out the bad piece, and splice in new PVC with proper couplings.

It's the smallest repair available and often the least expensive. It's the wrong choice when the camera shows failing joints every few feet, because you'd be paying for the next point repair soon after.

Cured-in-place pipe lining puts a resin-soaked liner inside the old pipe. It's inflated against the walls and left to harden, which leaves a new seamless pipe inside the old one. Joints are sealed, so roots lose their way in.

Lining works when the old pipe still holds its shape: cracked clay, root-invaded joints, and pitted cast iron are good candidates. It won't fix a belly, because the liner follows the sag, and it can't go through a section that has already collapsed. Access is usually through the existing cleanout, so the yard stays mostly intact.

Pipe bursting replaces the lateral by pulling a new pipe through the old one. A bursting head breaks the old clay or cast iron outward into the soil while the new pipe follows behind it. It takes a pit at each end of the run instead of a trench between them.

We reach for bursting when the old pipe is too broken to line and the route from house to main is clear. Lines that run tight against a foundation or other utilities, or that sag, are better dug.

Sometimes digging is the right answer. A belly has to be dug up and re-bedded to fix the slope. A fully collapsed run can block both a liner and a bursting head. Very shallow lines, and lines that need a new cleanout or a new tie-in, are often faster to dig.

With open cut we expose the pipe, replace it with PVC at the correct slope, bed it, and backfill. It's more disruption, but it's the only method that corrects the grade, and we'll tell you up front when that's the case.

In most of Tampa Bay, the homeowner is responsible for the private lateral, from the house to where it meets the public system. The utility owns the main in the street or easement. Many homes have a cleanout near the property line that marks the handoff, but the exact split varies by utility, so we confirm it for your address.

If the camera shows the problem past your side, at the tap or in the main, we document it so you can report it to the utility instead of paying for its repair.

Replacing or relining a sewer lateral generally needs a plumbing permit from the local building department, whether that's the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County, Pasco County, or a Pinellas jurisdiction. We pull the permit and schedule the inspection, and the pipe stays open until it passes.

After that we backfill and compact the ground. If the repair runs under a driveway, walkway, or paver patio, the quote spells out what we cut, what we patch, and what's left for you or your landscaper. Small access pits from lining or bursting leave far less to restore than a trench.

HomeAdvisor's 2026 cost guide puts sewer line replacement between $1,388 and $5,323 nationally, with an average of $3,319. The same guide lists CIPP lining at $90 to $250 per foot, pipe bursting at $60 to $200 per foot, and a video sewer inspection at $100 to $500. Those are national figures, not a Titan price.

What moves the number on a Tampa job is the length and depth of the run, the method the camera points to, what sits on top of the pipe (lawn, pavers, a driveway, a slab), and the permit. Titan quotes a flat rate after the camera, before work starts.

If you're a Pinellas County Utilities sewer customer in a single-family home, the county's Private Sewer Lateral rebate program has offered 100% of an inspection up to $350 and 50% of a repair, replacement, or lining up to $3,500, once per property and while funds last. Check eligibility with the county before work begins.

Stop running water. That means no flushing, no showers, no dishwasher or washer, because everything you send down comes back up at the lowest drain.

On an older clay or cast iron lateral that isn't being replaced yet, regular root maintenance buys time. Cutting roots out before they fill the pipe is cheaper than clearing a full blockage.

Hydro jetting scours grease, scale, and fine roots off the pipe wall, which a cable can't do. It suits a sound pipe. On thin cast iron or soft Orangeburg, we look with the camera first, because a jet can break through a pipe that's barely holding. After a liner or a new PVC run, keep wipes and grease out of the drains and the line should need very little.