Read the pattern before buying the clearing. One fixture slow: the trap or branch for that fixture, usually hair, grease, or an object, cleared at the fixture. Several fixtures on one bathroom slow: the branch they share. Everything slow, with gurgling at the toilet when other water runs: the main line, and the house is one load of laundry from a backup at its lowest fixture.
A La Mirada drain slowing on an annual rhythm is a root story with a date on it: tract trees and clay joints renew the appointment every year or two. Cleaning restores the flow; the camera converts the rhythm into a decision, maintenance interval or line repair, in writing. Ask for the camera's footage summary with the invoice.
What comes back on the cable is the diagnosis. Grease ribbons mean kitchen habits and a line wall that jetting can scour. Roots mean a joint has opened underground and will be visited again on a schedule until the joint is repaired. Scale flakes mean an old cast iron line narrowing from inside, where each clearing buys less time than the last.
The camera is the tiebreaker at $125 to $500 in published guides. It is worth it when clogs repeat, when the line is old clay or cast iron, and before any excavation is quoted. Footage ends arguments: the line either has a defect at a measured distance or it does not.
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