Sewer Pipe Lining in Massachusetts

What is in the ground in Massachusetts

The median Massachusetts home dates from around 1960, the oldest of any state, and in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Fall River and the mill cities it is far older: whole neighborhoods of triple-deckers and two-families went up between 1880 and 1925 on vitrified clay laterals with a mortar joint every two or three feet, and cast iron where the lateral passes through a fieldstone or brick foundation. Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea, Worcester and Springfield still run combined sewers in their older sections. The postwar suburbs along Route 128 and in the Worcester and Springfield rings, in Framingham, Natick, Burlington, Billerica, Shrewsbury and the first Leominster and Fitchburg subdivisions, used clay, asbestos-cement and plenty of Orangeburg fiber pipe, which was made in Massachusetts and sold locally into the early 1970s. Basements are universal, so the lateral leaves below the basement floor and runs deep. Houses built since the mid-1970s have PVC laterals. Much of the state outside the cities, including most of Cape Cod and the hill towns, is on septic, governed by Title 5, and a lateral there runs to a tank with the same failure modes on the way.

Soil, water and weather

Massachusetts ground is glacial till over granite, gneiss and schist, and ledge outcrops across the eastern third of the state; a sewer trench that hits it becomes a hoe-ram or blasting job with the permits and the neighbors that implies. The till itself is dense, stony and poorly drained, so groundwater sits against the pipe for most of the year and infiltrates every open joint, and the spring thaw is the season of basement backups. The frost line runs four feet, among the deepest in the lower forty-eight, so laterals sit deep and a shallow or disturbed joint heaves every winter. The MWRA and the state's combined-sewer communities have spent decades under Clean Water Act orders on overflows and inflow and infiltration, and the cities now care a great deal about private laterals that leak groundwater in. Roots from the maples, oaks and Norway maples planted along every street a century ago fill clay joints as reliably here as anywhere. On the Cape and the islands, the ground is sand with a shallow water table and no ledge, and the problems are infiltration and Title 5.

What shows up on Massachusetts camera inspections

• Roots from century-old street maples and oaks in the mortar joints of clay laterals under triple-deckers and Victorians
• Orangeburg fiber pipe collapsing under 1950s-60s subdivisions along Route 128 and in the Worcester and Springfield rings
• Ledge rock a few feet down across the eastern third of the state that turns a trench into a blasting job
• Groundwater infiltration through open joints in dense glacial till, and spring-thaw basement backups
• Laterals four feet and deeper to clear the frost line, leaving below basement floors
• Combined-sewer and inflow-and-infiltration enforcement in the cities, and Title 5 on septic lots

Which trenchless method fits

The camera decides. A line that still holds its shape is a lining job; a line that has been crushed, has lost its slope or has collapsed is a replacement job; a single bad joint in an otherwise sound run is a spot repair. Here is what each one does and where it stops being the right tool.

Who owns the pipe, and who issues the permit

In most Massachusetts cities and towns the property owner is responsible for the sewer service from the structure to the main itself, the stretch under the sidewalk and street; Boston Water and Sewer Commission, Worcester DPW, Springfield Water and Sewer Commission and most MWRA member communities work that way, and a few towns maintain the portion in the right-of-way themselves. The work takes a plumbing permit from the city or town pulled by a Massachusetts-licensed plumber, and a sewer connection or drainlayer permit from the DPW or sewer department; any pit in the right-of-way takes a street-opening permit from the DPW or the Public Improvement Commission in Boston; and Dig Safe must be notified before any excavation. Many Massachusetts communities now require video of a lined lateral at the connection and some run lateral inspection programs tied to inflow-and-infiltration reduction. Where the property is on septic, the local board of health and Title 5 govern instead. Lining from the basement cleanout avoids the ledge, the street opening and the frost.

Lining crews in Massachusetts

Lining, bursting and spot repairs in Massachusetts are performed by Massachusetts pipe lining crews based in Leominster, covering all of Massachusetts. They are listed in the CIPP Verified Installer directory, which means licensing, completed work and lining equipment were checked before the listing went live.

Estimates are free. Call now. (877) 627-4401

Where lining is in demand across Massachusetts

The pipe problems described above are concentrated in the older cities and the postwar suburbs around them. The communities below are the ones Massachusetts property owners ask about most, and the same methods apply everywhere in between.

A straight answer about your Massachusetts sewer line

On a Massachusetts lot the cost of digging is set by the ledge and the street, not the pipe, which is why lining is the default here when the pipe will take it. Whether it will is a question only a camera answers: a century-old clay line with roots at every joint but its shape intact is a lining job; an Orangeburg line that has gone oval is not. The inspection locates each defect from above with its depth and the recording is yours. A written scope follows, naming the method chosen, the footage it covers, what it costs and why the other approaches did not fit.

Estimates are free. Call now. (877) 627-4401