Sewer Line Repair / Replacement

[Mike]

Folks,

Need your opinion on a proposed sewer line replacement / repair.

We're in the process of buying a home in the middle of a major city, and have just done the home inspections. The sewer inspector did a camera look see with a fiber optic cable, and found a hole in the sewer line,

approx 1 inch wide by 2 inch high.

It's under the sidewalk adjacent to the street. The house is on a hill, and there is a rock face / garden about 10 feet high (not quite vertical) on the house side of the sidewalk.

He's told us that it'll take about $15k to repair / replace the line, and that the repair will give us about 10 to 20 years of service. There is some settling / cracking in the sidewalk directly above the sewer line.

The house was built about 50 years ago, and we believe that the sewer line is approx the same age.

Thanks, Mike

[rickm]

How far is the break from where the city owns the line? Here I have a cleanout that's about 3' from the main - they take care of anything near that. I wonder if they'd take care of it because it's under a sidewalk. Due to a lot of breaks here they are lining the pipes with something like PVC.

[Mike]

Dear Rickm,

Unfortunately, this city is pretty explicit, the owner's responsibility is up to the edge of the sidewalk.

Thanks, Mike

[Speedy Jim]

15K to lift one block (or two) of sidewalk and dig down (guess) 8 feet?? I'll be right over! 50 years old means probably vitrefied clay pipe. Saw out broken section and, using Fernco/Mission couplings, insert short section of PVC.

Jim

[DanG]

The price sounds unrealistic to me. Ask around for a boring contractor. They can send a cutter in that splits the original pipe and pulls in a replacement line at the same time. You can repair the one small break that you have identified. They can pull a liner into the pipe that you have. I sure would not go with the first 15K bid I received without additional input.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing. . . . DanG

city, and

camera look

line,

a hill, and

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line, and

There is some

line.

sewer line

[PopRivet]

Thought: Can you find records of when/where gas lines might have been/are left? It's pretty common with their diggers to burrow through pipes of this kind with gas lines. Doesn't sound like it's still there, but might it have been at one time?

Just a thought.

Pop

replacement / repair.

of a major city,

inspector did a

a hole in the

house is on a

feet high (not

replace the

20 years of

sidewalk directly

believe that the

[Randy Anderson]

Based on the age of the line and the damage, replace as much of the line as possible.

As for replacement methods:

1. Dig, cut concrete & replace
2. Trenchless a. Pipe spliting - 2 holes are dug, one on each end. the plumber pulls a new pipe through the old spliting as it goes. Great stuff. b. Pipe lining - A fiber glass like sock is blown into the pipe, then a bladder is inflated inside the sock to force it against the inside of the exisiting pipe. Let it cure, remove the bladder and you are back in business.

Price: - In most cases you get what you pay for. Check references, licenses, bonds, etc.

Randy

[John Hines]

So if the hole is UNDER the sidewalk, isn't it the city's responsibility, since you own "up to the edge".

[Steve]

I wouldn't use a boring contractor. I would use one that's more = interesting. With a boring contractor, you could fall asleep :-).

On Sat, 3 Jul 2004 18:27:57 -0500, "DanG" put = together some random words that came up with: