Sewer Line Repair

Signs the sewer line is in trouble

The usual signs are drains that back up in more than one place, gurgling from toilets or tubs, a sewer smell in the house or the yard, and repeated clogs that come back a few weeks after being cleared. Outside, look for a soggy patch or a sunken strip of lawn along the line from the house to the street, or a stripe of greener grass above it. Any of these is worth a camera inspection before a small problem becomes a flooded basement.

Roots and old pipe

Tree roots look for water and find it in tiny gaps at pipe joints. Once inside, they grow into a mat that catches everything flushed behind it. Many older suburbs have homes built before 1980, and those sewer lines were often made of clay tile with a joint every few feet, or cast iron that rusts from the inside out. Some mid-century homes have bituminous fiber pipe that softens and collapses with age. Much of the Front Range also sits on expansive clay soil that swells when wet and shrinks when dry, which can shift buried pipe and pull joints apart.

Camera inspection first

Before anyone digs, we run a camera through the line from a cleanout and record it. That shows where the damage is, how deep it sits and how far it runs from the house. You get to see the footage, and so do we when we write the quote. If a section of the line only needs a spot repair, that is what we recommend. If the whole run is failing, we say that too and explain why.

Trenchless or dig

Trenchless repair works through one or two small access pits instead of a long trench. Pipe lining cures a new pipe inside the old one. Pipe bursting pulls a new pipe through the old path while breaking the old one apart. Both leave your lawn, driveway and landscaping largely alone. They do not suit every line. A badly collapsed section, a deep sag or a sharp offset may still call for an open trench. We explain which method fits your line and what each one costs, including what gets restored afterwards.

Permits and utility locates

Sewer work almost always requires a permit and an inspection, and we handle both. State law requires underground utilities to be marked before anyone digs, so we call for that locate before we break ground. Who owns which section of the line, the lateral from the house to the main in the street, differs from one city or district to the next. We tell you where your responsibility ends before you commit to anything.