The First Step: Inspection
Buying, selling, or simply maintaining - the answer to whatever your sewer may need likely begins with the unbiased opinion of a professional inspector using state of the art optics and recording equipment. Lighthouse Sewer Inspection is such a service. It's all we do. And because we provide no other services we have no interest in turning molehills into mountains - and then charging you to have us climb them.
The majority of sewers are just fine and likely will remain that way for years to come. If, however...
Well then at least we live in an age of options. Gone are the days of every sewer repair necessitating a Panama Canal type undertaking through the living room and yard. Rare is the issue for which the solution is limited to a single approach. This is good for your bottom line because prices very widely depending on the who, what, and how of the various options - sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars.
What follows is a list of sewer repair techniques and the basics of how they work.
Well then at least we live in an age of options. Gone are the days of every sewer repair necessitating a Panama Canal type undertaking through the living room and yard. Rare is the issue for which the solution is limited to a single approach. This is good for your bottom line because prices very widely depending on the who, what, and how of the various options - sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars.
What follows is a list of sewer repair techniques and the basics of how they work.
Line Clearing
Rooting
Should a clog be detected the first step is to clear it, and the first approach generally taken is to have it rooted. Rooting is the process of pushing a length of mechanical cable (snake) into the sewer until the business end - a pair of circular steel blades - encounters the impasse. A motor spins the blades and and like a drill, Viola! No more clog. Usually. Just about every plumbing company provides this service.
Hydrojetting
Jetting is the process of clearing a sewer by way of high pressure water. A hose topped by a spinning jet head is slowly pushed through the line. The head directs intense streams of water onto the pipe wall, thereby blasting loose whatever build up - roots, FOG (fats, oils, grease), rust, debris - has constricted the flow. The offending material is simply washed into the city main and away. Hydrojetting machines are significantly more expensive than rooters and the service is generally offered by larger plumbing outfits.
Line Replacement
Trenching
Dig it up. Tear it out. Replace it. Fill it in. It's old technology for sure, but it is straight forward and relatively foolproof. If there is little in the way - i.e. concrete slabs, drive ways, sidewalks, trees, decks, rockeries - trenching can be the best, most economical choice for sewer repair or replacement. Plus, an open trench invites inspection. Does the line maintain proper slope? Are the joints glued? Is everything bedded properly? Take a look. The fact that trenching in new lines is not rocket science may well be its greatest strength. And for small fixes in an otherwise healthy line, it is generally the go-to sollution.
Pipe-Bursting
Bursting is the process of pulling a mole - basically a big steel arrow head coupled to a new length of polyethelyne pipe - through an existing sewer by way of hydrolics and heavy chain. The mole literally bursts the old line, pushes the fragments aside, and pulls the new line into place in exactly the same position. Like trenching, the resulting sewer line is full sized and new. Unlike trenching, bursting requires only two holes, one at each end of the run, and where above ground obstacles exist - decks, driveways, rockeries - it can offer considerable savings. Prime candidates for this approach contain few bends and few Ys. Numerous companies offer the service.
Pipe Lining
Lining, also called CIPP (Cured-In-Place Pipe), is the process of feeding a felt tube saturated with epoxy into a damaged sewer line, inflating a bladder inside the the tube to expand it into shape, and waiting for the epoxy to cure. What results is a new, hard walled sewer line inside the old line. Unlike trenching or bursting, however, the diameter of the new pipe will necessarily be somewhat smaller than the original. Generally, the difference in performance is negligible. Sewer lines which suffer restrictions - serious deformations or off-sets - can not be made wider through lining and so make poor candidates for the approach. Like bursting, the savings come into play when trenching would necessitate the rebuilding of driveways, rockeries, etc.. Pipe Lining is a clean, high-tech undertaking offered by a limited number of companies.
A Few Words about Repair Companies
- If your situation allows - and sometimes it does not - take the time to ask friends for recomendations. The more recent the work the better - a company that was great two years ago may have a completely different crew today. And if your friends know the name of the person who ran their specific job - better still.
- Use the internet - guardedly. You can go a long way to vetting your contractor simply by Googling or checking them out on Yelp. But remember, a lot of old school outifits are run by old school folks who aren't necessarily hip to hyping themselves on-line. This doesn't mean they aren't great. What internet vetting is best at isn't revealing who makes the majority of their clients happy, but who has made some of them really, really, really angry.
- Contact the Better Business Bureau. The BBB gives an A+ - F grade to participating business based on a rigorious sixteen point check list. Grades factor everything from time in business to complaint resolution to holding the proper licenses. Maintaining an A takes work. No business which has been around for any amount of time is likely to be complaint-free, what matters is what the business does with the complaints it receives. The BBB allows you to check.
- Ask if you can contact recent clients for whom a company has performed work similar to what you will need. Most outfits do one type of major repair - trenchers trench, bursters burst, liners line - so putting you in touch with a recent, like-kind client shouldn't be a big problem. And if they say they'd like to but can't? Why can't they? And if they just won't? Well, maybe it's time to look elsewhere. After all, if a company had done good work for you and asked if a prospective client could call or email, chances are you'd say yes. And if they'd done a lousy job, you'd say yes even quicker. In both cases it's yes.
- The best thing you can do - pricewise - is to seek numerous bids. Not only will costs vary between companies for the same work (hungry crews bid low, busy ones high), they will vary even more between companies offering different approaches. A sky high quote may be just that, but if it is the only quote you get - you will never know.
"I can't believe how clean it all was. When I thought about a sewer inspection - and our clean out in a bedroom - I thought new carpet in there for sure. At least professional cleaning. Probably new carpet though. Thank you so much.
Gail F. (Federal Way)