When more than one drain backs up at once — or sewage smell creeps into the yard — the problem is usually the main sewer line, not a clogged sink. Gallegos Plumbing has repaired and replaced sewer lines across Ventura County since 1996 — a licensed contractor, CA Lic. #1022795 — with experienced, background-checked technicians and a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Camera Inspection Before Anything Else
Every sewer job starts with a high-definition camera run through the line, and you see exactly what we see. Sometimes the fix is simply a professional drain cleaning — if that's all your line needs, that's all we'll recommend. If the pipe is cracked, root-invaded, bellied, or collapsed, the footage shows precisely where and how bad, so the repair is scoped to reality instead of a guess.
What Your Pipe Is Made Of Changes Everything
Cast iron laterals give you 50 to 60 years before the walls scale over and rot from the inside out. Clay lasts longer on paper. In practice it is brittle, and Ventura County punishes brittle pipe: elevation changes and seismic movement crack it, pull the joints apart, and roots find those openings fast. ABS and PVC are the modern answer at 50 to 100 years, and they flex with the ground instead of fighting it. Until someone has identified what is actually under your yard, any repair quote is a guess.
Orangeburg: The 1960s Problem Pipe
Homes built here in the 1960s and early 1970s carry a real chance of an Orangeburg lateral. The material is wood pulp bound with tar, which is to say heavy cardboard soaked in asphalt. It was rated for 25 to 45 years, so every Orangeburg line still in the ground in Ventura County is past its service life. It fails from the inside out: the layers delaminate, the pipe deforms out of round, and roots tear through the softened wall. You cannot jet it. A large cable will punch straight through it. Routine drain cleaning on Orangeburg regularly leaves a homeowner worse off than before the truck showed up.
We do not line Orangeburg. A pipe that is delaminating and out of round gives a liner nothing to bond to, and quoting one is quoting a repair that will fail. Caught before it collapses, pipe bursting pulls a new lateral along the old path through two small pits. After a collapse that option is gone and you are digging a trench. That is the argument for putting a camera down a house of this age before you have a reason to.
Trenchless Replacement — Our Own Equipment, Not a Sub
Most plumbers rent trenchless capability or subcontract it out. Gallegos owns its trenchless rig outright — other plumbing companies in the 805 actually hire our crew and equipment for their trenchless jobs. Cured-in-place pipe lining pulls an epoxy-saturated liner through the damaged pipe and cures it into a new, corrosion-resistant pipe rated for 50+ years; pipe bursting pulls a new line through a collapsed one, fracturing the old pipe outward. Either way: one or two small access pits instead of a trench through your yard.
When Traditional Excavation Makes Sense
A badly collapsed or back-pitched line can't always be lined. When excavation is the honest answer, we dig carefully, replace with new pipe, verify the repair on camera, and restore the site.
Upfront, Honest Pricing
After the camera inspection you approve a flat, upfront quote for the exact repair your line needs — spot repair, lining, bursting, or excavation — before any work starts.