How Can Modern Sewer Repair Techniques Save You Money?
"There's something wrong with your sewer pipes." No homeowner likes to hear those words from their plumber. Sewer pipe repairs have a reputation for being both costly and disruptive, particularly when located under concrete slabs or in another challenging location. While sewer repairs are never simple jobs, modern technology can make this work much more straightforward and cost-effective.
If you still have visions of ripping apart your basement floor or digging up your entire yard when you think of fixing a sewer pipe, check out these three ways that modern technology helps plumbers accomplish these jobs with far less disruption.
1. Sewer Pipe Inspections
Nearly all plumbers who work on drains or sewer pipes use inspection cameras. These devices provide far more precision than what was previously available. Instead of guessing where the problem may be or using various inaccurate diagnostic techniques, your plumber can instead run a flexible camera into your pipe to locate the exact location of the clog, collapse, or crack.
These cameras allow plumbers to estimate the position of a problem within a few feet, minimizing the amount of disruption necessary to repair the sewer line. If you are using a trenching or digging method to fix your sewer pipe, these cameras will ensure your plumber only needs to excavate as much as is necessary.
2. Sewer Lining
In some cases, trenchless repair methods may mean that you don't need to excavate the affected section of plumbing at all. Instead, your plumber typically only needs one or two access points. These methods vary, but most involve inserting a flexible tube into your existing plumbing, inflating it, and using an epoxy resin to cure the line into a rigid pipe.
Sewer lining methods are usually suitable for situations where the old plumbing is still more or less in one piece. Cracks, holes, and root infiltration are ideal situations for this approach. On the other hand, a collapsed sewer will usually still require your plumber to excavate and remove the old pipe.
3. Pipe Bursting
Pipe bursting is an alternative form of trenchless sewer repair. Pipe bursting may require more excavation than lining, but it can address more significant problems with a sewer pipe. Your plumber will use a bursting tool to expand and destroy the old sewer line. As the device moves through your old sewer line, it also brings a new pipe along with it.
Pipe bursting requires excavation on both sides of the affected area of the sewer, but it can potentially address many problems. Note that this technique is still rarely suitable when dealing with a fully collapsed sewer line.
Reach out to a professional to discuss the sewer line repair options you have.
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