You're spot-on about the camera inspection. I've seen too many homeowners try to save a buck by repeatedly snaking the drain, only to face a bigger headache down the line. Tree roots can be sneaky—they'll keep coming back unless you tackle the root cause (no pun intended...). Had a customer last year who ignored a recurring clog, and it turned out to be a cracked pipe. The fix wasn't cheap, but catching it early definitely saved him from a basement disaster. You're making the right call getting it checked now rather than waiting for a bigger mess. Good luck, hope it's nothing major.
Great points above—roots are definitely a persistent enemy. Had a similar issue myself a couple years back, thought I had it beat after snaking twice, but nope... roots won that battle. Camera inspection revealed a nasty crack. Cost me a bit upfront, but totally worth the peace of mind now. Curious, is your basement drain connected to older clay pipes? Those seem to attract roots like magnets.
Had a similar headache myself last spring. Snaked it once, thought I was good, but nope—roots came back with a vengeance. Ended up replacing about 15 feet of old clay pipe with PVC. Not cheap, but haven't had an issue since. If your pipes are clay, I'd seriously consider biting the bullet and upgrading. Roots just love those old joints and cracks...
Replacing clay pipes is definitely a solid fix, but before dropping serious cash on PVC, you might wanna try hydro jetting. Had a client last year whose roots kept coming back after snaking—hydro jet cleared it out completely. Cheaper than pipe replacement and still going strong...
Had a similar issue last spring—roots kept invading our old clay pipes, and snaking only bought us a few months each time. Ended up trying hydro jetting after reading about it online. It worked surprisingly well, cleared out everything thoroughly. But I'm curious how long it'll actually hold up... Anyone here had hydro jetting done more than once? Wondering if it's really a long-term solution or just delaying the inevitable pipe replacement.
