Sewer scope advice needed

Hello,

We're first time home buyers and recently had a sewer scope on the 1920s fixer upper that we are going to buy. The scope revealed a lot of cracks in the main sewer line and some tree root infiltration. No complete blockages, but the house has been vacant for a number of months with no running water.

The inspector recommended replacing or relining the entire line, inside and out. He does not work for a contractor and only does inspections. The plumber doing the estimate recommended lining the exterior sewer line and completely replacing the interior main line since there are wyes connecting to it.

Interior line replacement 30': $5200
Exterior epoxy liner 30': $4900

I wanted to get some other opinions on whether we need to do this work right away or if we should wait. If we do the work now, we can roll the costs into our mortgage using a repair escrow. If we wait, we might not be able to finance fixing it in the future and would potentially have to pay cash.

I've attached some pictures from the sewer scope. The images are in order..starting on the inside. I appreciate the help!

It will not get any better, and will probably get worse. I would get it repaired now.

The only thing that concerns me is the offsets in the pipe shown in the 7th picture, footage marking 1'4", and the last, footage marking 28'3".

Most liner systems don't fix the offset issue, they just line the inside of the pipe, leaving the potential of blockages caused by the offset. Probably not an issue, as I am assuming the one at 1' 4" will be replaced, and the one at 28' 3" doesn't look that serious.

Excavate and replace the pipe in its entirety.

Thanks for the advice. We'll be occupying the home, but our plan is to renovate and sell in a few years. We'd like to keep our costs down. I'm basically trying to decide whether I should spend $10,000 to do the repairs up front or take the chance and see if the future buyer will ask for the repair as a concession (we would have to disclose the cracks in the line). The latter choice at least gives me a chance of not having to pay for the repair. My thinking is that the sewer line is 100 years old, what's another 3 years? Thoughts?

Well....sewer back ups can cause upwards of $10K in damages. Do you want to risk it?

Valid point. Yeah, I'm just not totally sure right now. We're getting another estimate tomorrow. Also thinking about the option of getting insurance for the line...might only cost $120 a year from what I've seen online? I'd like to have the peace of mind of replacing the line...just difficult to get around the cost.

Hi bro,

I really appreciate all your efforts taken while taking images of those pipes. The damage is too much. I suggest you to simply call your local plumber and get this sorted out as soon as possible. I think there might be hundreds of cockroaches hiding near that pipe line somewhere. Please! Don’t ignore this, and call your plumber immediately!