Sewer Line Cleaning on Camillus and Fairmount Laterals
If the line has collapsed before rather than simply blocked, do not send another cable down it. That is the expected finding on this town's housing and it needs a different plan.
Sewer Line Cleaning quote in Camillus
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The pipe no record lists, in the town most likely to have it
The City of Ann Arbor's building department describes Orangeburg as the brand name of a bituminous fiber pipe made from plant-based fibers and asbestos soaked in a tar-like substance, manufactured to ASTM D-1861 for homogeneous pipe and ASTM D-1862 for the laminated wall version, and states that bituminous fiber piping systems have experienced numerous failures over the years with many needing complete replacement. It puts the usage window at roughly the early 1950s to the early 1970s, with reports of it in homes as early as 1949, and notes that no municipal record identifies which houses have it. It lists a video scan of the line as a way to identify it and warns that inserting a rooter, snake or mechanical cutter may yield clues but may also further damage the pipe.
Source: City of Ann Arbor, Building, Rental and Inspection Services, accessed 2026-09-08
The Town of Camillus has 11,481 housing units with a median year built of 1966. Of those, 53.4 percent were built between 1940 and 1969, the highest mid-century share of any town in Onondaga County, while only 9.2 percent were built before 1950.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year, tables B25034 and B25035, accessed 2026-09-08
The EPA's own analysis of sanitary sewer overflows states that more than 70 percent of the overflows studied were attributed to line or main breaks or to line blockages, that most breaks were reported in old pipes, and that of the line blockages reported the most common cause was buildup of oil and grease with tree root intrusion the second most important cause. It adds that systems not routinely cleaned and repaired experience more frequent clogged and collapsed lines from root growth and from accumulated debris, sediment, oil and grease.
Source: US Environmental Protection Agency, Sanitary Sewer Overflows case study, accessed 2026-09-08
A line that collapses instead of blocking, and why Camillus has them
There is one warning that matters more in Camillus than anywhere else in the county, and it comes from the building department that has published most on bituminized fiber pipe: inserting a rooter, snake or mechanical cutter may yield clues but may also further damage the pipe. That material was made from plant fibers and asbestos soaked in a tar-like substance, its usage window runs from roughly the early 1950s to the early 1970s, and no municipal record identifies which houses have it. In a town where 53.4 percent of housing sits inside that window, a repeatedly collapsing line is the expected finding rather than the surprising one, and a video scan is how it is confirmed.
What order the work runs in on a Camillus lateral
Weigh the failure history before the machine is chosen. A run that blocks once every few years and clears cleanly is carrying a deposit, and a cutting head or a jetter is the right answer. A run that has collapsed, that fails again within weeks, or that comes back oval on a camera has lost its structure, and cleaning it is spending money to shorten its life. Weigh the cause of the ordinary blockages too, because the EPA found that of reported line blockages the most common cause was buildup of oil and grease with root intrusion second, and that systems not routinely cleaned experience more frequent clogged and collapsed lines.
A collapse is not a blockage
Repeat failure and deformation mean the pipe no longer holds its own shape. No cleaning method restores that, and the tools that clear a deposit can make it worse.
No record says which houses have it
Bituminized fiber pipe is not listed anywhere by address, and a video scan of the line is the way to identify it. That is the argument for a camera before a cutter on a house of this age.
Routine cleaning prevents more than it fixes
The EPA notes that systems not routinely cleaned and repaired see more frequent clogged and collapsed lines from root growth and from accumulated debris, sediment, oil and grease. A known-risk line is better on a schedule.
Has this line failed more than once?
Tell us how many times and how close together, and we will say whether a cleaning is even the right purchase.
Other lateral and repair work we arrange in Camillus
Questions Camillus owners ask about a line that keeps failing
What is Orangeburg pipe and could my Camillus line be it?
It is the brand name of a bituminous fiber pipe made from plant-based fibers and asbestos soaked in a tar-like substance, in use from roughly the early 1950s to the early 1970s with reports as early as 1949. 53.4 percent of Camillus housing was built between 1940 and 1969, so the odds here are real. No municipal record identifies which houses have it, which is why the line has to be looked at rather than looked up.
The line has collapsed twice. Should it be cleaned again?
Cleaning is not the right word for what that line needs. Repeat collapse means the pipe has lost its structure, and the published warning about this material is that a rooter, snake or mechanical cutter may further damage it. The money is better spent on a survey that establishes how much of the run has gone, because that decides between a spot repair and replacing the length.
Tell us what keeps happening to your Camillus line
Send your ZIP code and the history. There is no obligation, and we will say what order the work should run in.