If your drains have backed up more than once, the pipe itself is usually the reason — and in West Ashley that is a very common story.
Cast iron and clay, doing what they do
Homes in Avondale, Byrnes Downs and South Windermere were plumbed with cast iron and clay. Cast iron builds up scale inside until very little space is left. Clay joints weep slightly, and the roots from the big oaks along these streets find them and grow in. Neither is anyone’s fault, and both are fixable.
A cable is a short-term answer
Cutting roots clears the line for a season, then they come back through the same joints. Lining the pipe removes those joints altogether, which is why it lasts rather than buying you a few months.
Newer neighbourhoods, a different problem
Out toward Grand Oaks and Carolina Bay the pipe is modern PVC and generally sound. What happens there is settling — the ground shifts under a section and it sags, holding water and collecting waste. That is a repair to one part, not the whole line.
Ask to see inside the pipe
Roots, a sagging section, a crack and a collapse all cost very different amounts to put right. Nobody should quote you a sewer repair without showing you camera footage of what they found.