Your sewer line probably isn’t something you think about every day, but it serves an important function in keeping your space sanitary. When a sewer line clogs or breaks, it can lead to backed-up drains, water pooling in your yard and unpleasant odors. There are two main options for fixing a broken sewer line: traditional digging or trenchless sewer repair. We explain the main differences below and how to know which one is right for your system.
What Is Trenchless Sewer Repair?
Trenchless sewer repair methods are designed to fix your sewer line with minimal impact to your yard and landscaping. Traditional digging requires excavating a trench along the sewer line so plumbers can access and replace it. Trenchless sewer repair uses small access points instead of one long trench, which requires less digging and damage to your yard.
The main methods for trenchless sewer line repair include:
- Pipe lining. Sewer pipe lining involves accessing the sewer line and putting a tube inside the existing pipe. This creates a pipe within a pipe, effectively bypassing the broken original line.
- Pipe bursting. With this method, a special tool shatters the old pipe while simultaneously laying a new flexible pipe in its place.
However, not every sewer line problem is a good candidate for trenchless repair. The technicians at Duane Blanton can assess your system and help you determine if one of these methods could be a good fit.
3 Key Differences Between Trenchless Sewer Repair and Traditional Digging
Both traditional digging and trenchless sewer repair can address a broken sewer line, but there are significant differences in the impact on the property, the time and labor involved and the cost.
Level of Disruption to the Property
Sewer lines generally run from the house to the street, where they tie into the city’s drainage and sewer system. If you have a broken sewer line, traditional repair methods could mean digging a trench through your entire yard to access the pipe. How much damage this does to your property depends on where the sewer line is located. In some cases, it may only require resodding where the trench was dug, but in others, it could mean replacing sidewalks, driveways and extensive landscaping.
Trenchless sewer repair causes much less disruption to your property because it uses small access points to repair the sewer line. This minimizes cleanup and restoration work and gets your yard back to its original condition faster.
Amount of Time and Labor
Traditional sewer line excavation is labor-intensive. Even with equipment, it can take several days to dig up the line, remove the old pipe, install the new one and level the dirt back out. Trenchless sewer repair is much faster because technicians don’t have to remove the old pipe. In some cases, trenchless repairs can be completed in as little as one day.
Cost
How much it costs to repair or replace a sewer line depends on several factors, including where the line is located, how easy it is to access, the amount of damage and the length of the pipe. While traditional digging methods may be cheaper when you’re only considering the repair itself, trenchless sewer line repair is often more cost-effective when you factor in the time and money saved with restoration. Trenchless sewer line repair generally doesn’t require any disruption to driveways or sidewalks, and it has a minimal impact on landscaping.
Choosing the Right Sewer Repair Method
While trenchless sewer repair has many advantages over traditional excavation, there are times when it’s not a feasible repair method. Traditional digging may be necessary if there’s extensive structural damage or the sewer line has completely collapsed.
No matter what situation you’re facing with your sewer line, contact the team at Duane Blanton. We can explain your options and the pros and cons of each during our inspection so you can make an informed decision about how you want to move forward.
