Sewer line done today

Today we had our sewer line replace via "trenchless" technology. Our house was built in the early 1950's and has a clay sewer pipe from the house all the way out to the street. Over the years, it has shifted and cracked due to both normal movement and earthquakes. It is also infested with tree roots. You can get a heavy duty snaking to keep it clear, but that is really a stop gap measure and the cost adds up over time.

All the houses on our street that were built at the same time have either had it done or need it done. We knew when we bought the house that this was something that needed to be done. I am so happy to finally have gotten to it as the idea of the sewer line failing and having an emergency on my hands has weighed on me for a while.

Before trenchless technology, this would have been a multi-day job. They would have dug up my front yard, front path, sidewalk, median strip and street with a wide, deep trench. The line would have been replaced and then the rebuilding process begins. To repave the street, we would have needed to truck in fill dirt and then hire specialty contractors to put down asphalt and pour new curbs and sidewalks. Our front yard would have been trashed. Add to this city services such as inspectors and traffic control and you are talking a big job and big bucks!

As you will see, trenchless is much better. I'll be this company makes a killing! It was one day, no mess, and we had plumbing by 3:10 p.m. The installation is warrantied for 10 years and the material for 50 years! I'll be quite old by the time I have to pay for any more work on the sewer line. The material is also more flexible than plastic pipes (clay is not used any longer in this area), and will withstand a lot more pressure without cracking. The installer told me you could drive a car over it and it would not break (I didn't test it!).

Here is the driveway with a tarp down before the work begins.



Remember the trench I described above? This is ours. It's about 2.5' x 1.5'.





Here is where they cut the pipe to install the liner. The old clay pipe is visible on the left. The new plastic pipe that we had done earlier is on the right. A few days ago, the installer came and cleared the sewer pipe of roots and debris by using a high pressure hose and a snake.




Here is the liner laid out on the driveway. The liner is a 4"-6" tube laying down the middle of a long tarp. The liner is like a tube sock with no toe. As manufactured, it has a flexible plastic on the outside and a felt-like material inside.


This is the machine used to blow the liner into the sewer pipe. After prepping, the liner is rolled inside and then the machine's air compresser creates pressure to shoot the liner into the sewer pipe.


The yellow pile is a long skinny balloon that is blown into the sewer pipe after the liner. It is inflated to keep the liner in the right place while it hardens. Once the liner is hard, the balloon is removed.


The felt-like inside of the liner is soaked with a special epoxy before being put in the sewer pipe. This is the epoxy being mixed. It went from clear to white, and there's even a fly entombed in my sewer pipe. I'm thinking it will be like Jurassic Park someday.


After temporarily sealing one end of the liner, the liner is filled with the epoxy and then rolled like this to spread the expoxy and soak the felt.


Here is the blowing machine attached to the sewer line during installation.




Here, the liner has been installed and will be left to dry with an air compressor to maintain pressure and keep the balloon inflated.



The project was left like this for a few hours while the crew went to lunch and the liner hardened.




As I said, we had plumbing by 3:10, and the last setp was to pour some concrete around the joint for further stability and fill the hole.




When I was talking to the installer after the job, I realized tha ALL of our plumbing is new. Every inch from the street all the way out to the last sprinkler valve in the backyard is less than 2.5 years old. I am so happy to have this done.