Does anyone out there have experience with the relining of their sewer line. I have a 1920’s house with the original clay pipe that runs about 60 feet to the city’s main line and am considering having it relined. My understanding of this technology is that its essentially a bladder that is run down the line around which some sort of epoxyish material is injected to create a continuous “pipe” from beginning to end. Having fought tree roots for years with biannual snakings of this line brought up consideration of having this done. The one company I talked to about this said the material is rated to last 50 years and they give a guarantee of 5 years on labor and material. It will cost a pretty good chunck of change which I think will be worth it in the long run if the technology and material can be counted on especially since it is a fairly noninvasive repair with respect ot tearing up the yard.. Any input would be appreciated.
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Replies
Relined Sewer Line
The problem with clay sewer lines is that most of them were installed incorrectly in the first place, the joints were installed wrong, the pipe was not bedded on a solid base, as a result the roots get in there and the pipe sags. If you reline it you end up with a crooked line with joints that may be cracked due to the invasion of the roots, almost guaranteed to need snakeing on a regular basis.
After working in the plumbing trade many years I have never heard of anyone (in the trade ) reccommend it.
If you still think you want it done I would suggest that you have your line videoed to see the actual condition of the inside, luck
Ditto on Shacko's comment, with another possible option: You might want to consider pipe-burtsing if it's important not to disturb existing landscaping or construction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_bursting
The replacement pipe that is pulled thru is a very heavy-walled (about 1/2" on 4" pipe) polyethelene that would tend to straighten out dips or sags much better than relining, and is about as close to indestructable as you can get for sewer lines. Prices here run about $3500-$5000 for a typical house sewer.