When most residential, commercial, and industrial property owners are having problems with the sewer system the first thing that they do is contact a local plumbing contractor. While you certainly hope to hear that it is a simple and relatively inexpensive fix, it is best to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. This holds especially true if your home, place of business, or investment property is over forty years old. That seems to be the point in time when many sewer pipes become a ticking time bomb, and require major repairs, a complete system overhaul, or even a total sewer pipeline replacement.
In regards to being properly prepared it is important for you to know that there are multiple repair options available. Up until recent times there was only one method that plumbing contractors could rely on. The traditional sewer repair process requires the excavation of a large and trench that runs along the entire length of the sewer pipeline. Sewer pipes typically run for hundreds of feet from the building to the city or town’s main sewer line or a septic tank buried somewhere on the property. Since the sewer pipeline is buried underground can you imagine the type of damage and destruction that the trench causes to both your landscaping and hardscaping.
Once the sewer pipes are repaired or replaced the plumbing contractor fills in the trench with dirt and moves on to their next job. They are not responsible for repairing or replacing the damage to your landscaping and hardscaping. Fortunately two trenchless sewer repair techniques were invented about fifteen years ago. They do not necessitate the need to excavate a large and destructive trench. Trenchless pipe lining only requires a small access point at one end of the sewer pipeline. From the access point a technologically advanced machine installs a specially formulated epoxy resin liner to the interior surfaces of the sewer pipes.
Within a few short hours the epoxy resin cures in place forming a hard, impenetrable pipe liner. Some industry experts refer to the liner as a pipe within a pipe. The new liner fixes any chips, cracks, breaks, and rotten spots, and also prevents future damage from occurring. It will last for approximately fifty years, takes as little as one day to install from start to finish, and is a little over fifty-percent more cost effective than the traditional excavation method. If the existing sewer pipeline is broken to the point that it is unable to hold the pipe liner than the trenchless pipe bursting approach is used.
Two small access points are required, one at each end of the existing sewer pipeline. A different type of machine is used to install a one piece, continuous plastic PVC pipe through the access point and into the sewer pipes. As the new PVC pipe is being inserted it bursts the existing sewer pipeline into pieces. In essence the new PVC pipe completely replaces the old one. The entire trenchless pipe bursting process can take as little as one day to complete from start to finish, will last for nearly one hundred years, and is significantly more cost effective when compared to the traditional excavation method.
