Answered 24/7 · camera decides, not the sales pitch
Trenchless repair, when the pipe can still take a liner
A resin-coated liner is drawn through the existing pipe and cured in place to form a new pipe inside the old one, which needs a continuous passage to work at all.
- CFC1433655Florida plumbing contractor license
- Access at each endinstead of a trench along the run
Can my sewer line be lined instead of dug up?
It depends on one thing: whether there is still a continuous passage through the pipe for a liner to travel. Cured-in-place lining draws a resin-coated sleeve through the existing run and hardens it into a new pipe inside the old one, and it suits cracked, leaking, root-damaged and partially collapsed pipe very well. Pipe bursting is the other trenchless method, breaking the old pipe outward while pulling a new one through behind it.
What neither can do is rebuild a pipe that is no longer there. A severely collapsed or badly offset run, or a line so blocked that it cannot be cleaned or cabled through first, is a job for excavation, and any contractor who says otherwise is selling the method rather than solving the problem.
That is why the camera comes before the quote. This is the single decision on a sewer job where the honest answer and the expensive one genuinely diverge.
What decides it
The five things the camera is actually looking for
Each one moves the answer toward lining or away from it.
Whether the camera gets all the way through
If it does, a liner probably can too. If the run stops the camera, that is the answer before anything else is discussed.
Cracks and root intrusion
The classic lining case. The pipe has lost its seal but kept its shape, and a liner restores a continuous wall without opening the ground above it.
Offset joints
Small offsets can be lined. A badly offset joint means the two halves no longer form a passage, and no liner bridges that.
A belly in the run
A sag that holds water is a grade problem, not a wall problem. Lining a belly gives you a smooth belly, which is the same problem in a new surface.
Where the access points are
Lining needs access at each end rather than along the length. On a long lot that can be the difference between one day and a trench across the garden.
Questions
Straight answers before you call
Does trenchless mean no digging at all?
It usually means access pits at each end rather than a trench along the whole run. On a long lot with mature landscaping or a driveway over the line, that difference is the whole point of the method.
How long does a liner last?
Manufacturers state a fifty-year design life for cured-in-place lining. That is a design figure rather than a promise, and it assumes the host pipe was a suitable candidate, which is what the camera pass establishes.
Why did someone tell me my line cannot be lined?
Most likely because the camera could not get through, or found a collapse, a bad offset or a belly. Those are structural conditions rather than opinions, and the footage shows them. Ask to see it.
Is lining cheaper than replacement?
It is usually less disruptive, which is not the same thing and depends heavily on what is above the pipe. What we can say plainly is that the method should follow the footage, not the other way round.
Does this work on cast iron?
It is one of the main uses for it here. In Florida humidity cast iron corrodes faster than in drier states, and lining an aging cast iron run avoids the slab work that traditional replacement needs, when the pipe is still a candidate.
Related work
The decision this sits inside
Trenchless is one of three answers to the same finding.
Live dispatch · 24 / 7 / 365
Been told your line needs replacing?
A person answers at any hour. Put a camera in first: lining and digging are very different jobs and only the footage decides which one is honest.
No obligation. Work performed under Florida plumbing contractor license CFC1433655.