Residential Sewer Pipe Lining

What is under a house

From the fixtures to the street, a house sewer is usually two kinds of pipe. Under the floor, or hung in the crawl space, the branch drains and the main building drain are cast iron in anything built between the 1940s and the 1970s, galvanized steel in some older houses, and ABS or PVC since. Outside the foundation the lateral runs to the public main in whatever the builder used that decade: vitrified clay in short jointed lengths before about 1960 and in many places well after, Orangeburg fiber pipe in a great many postwar subdivisions, concrete in parts of the Midwest and Northwest, and plastic from the mid-1970s on. Each fails in its own way. Clay opens at the joints and fills with roots. Cast iron scales from the inside until a four-inch pipe passes water through a channel the width of a hose, then rusts through along the bottom. Orangeburg blisters inward and goes oval. Plastic cracks at a fitting or sags into a belly where the ground under it settled. The state guides on this site go into which of these you are likely to have and why.

Why a trench costs what it does

On most lots the pipe is not the expensive part of a replacement. The expensive part is the slab it runs under, the driveway or patio poured over it since, the retaining wall, the mature tree, the sidewalk the city will want restored to its standard, and the street if the lateral is yours all the way to the main, as it is in most of the country. Add the depth, since laterals in frost country leave below a basement floor and run eight to twelve feet down, and a trench becomes a shored excavation with a permit for every surface it crosses. Lining works from the existing cleanout, or from a small pit if there is none, and leaves every one of those surfaces alone.

The one-day job

A typical residential lining day runs like this. The crew runs a camera through the line and confirms what the estimate was based on. A hydro jetter and, for cast iron, a descaling tool strip the pipe to bare wall, and the camera goes back through to be sure. The liner is cut to length, saturated with resin on site, and inverted or pulled into the pipe from the cleanout, then inflated so it presses against the old wall. It cures with hot water, steam or UV light, usually in a few hours. A robotic cutter reopens any branch connections the liner covered. The camera goes through one last time while you watch, and the recording goes in your file with the warranty. Most houses are done before dinner. A burst, which needs a pit at each end, takes a day or two. A point repair on a single bad joint takes a few hours.

Under the slab

In the slab-built South and West, the problem is usually not the lateral but the cast iron under the floor, and the question is whether it can be rebuilt without cutting the slab. Often it can. Scaled cast iron that still holds its round shape is descaled with a chain or cable tool, cleaned, and either lined with a full cured-in-place tube or, in small-diameter branch lines, coated with a sprayed or brushed epoxy that seals pinholes and stops further corrosion. The work is done from an interior cleanout, a roof vent or a pulled toilet. What cannot be done from inside is a section that has rusted through and separated, or one that has been sheared by slab movement; that section comes up through the floor as a small cut, and the rest is lined. The camera decides where that line falls.

What it costs, honestly

Residential lining is priced by the foot and by the difficulty: diameter, depth, how many branch connections have to be reinstated, whether a cleanout exists or a pit must be opened, how much cleaning the pipe needs, and what the local utility requires by way of permits and inspection. A straightforward four-inch lateral commonly lands in the mid four figures to low five figures; a long, deep line with several reinstatements and a pit costs more. The comparison that matters is with the trench, and on a slab house, a deep basement lateral or a line under hardscape, the trench nearly always loses once restoration is counted. Nobody can price your line responsibly without a camera through it, and a quote offered without one should be treated as a guess.

Buying or selling a house

A sewer scope has become a routine part of a home inspection on any house more than thirty or forty years old, and a growing number of cities require a lateral inspection and certificate at the point of sale. When the scope turns up cracks, roots, offsets or Orangeburg, the timeline is short and the parties need a number. A verified installer reviews the inspector's video, confirms it with their own camera if needed, and produces a written scope and a fixed price fast enough to be used in negotiation or carried through a credit. Lining warranties from the listed installers generally transfer to the buyer; the written warranty says so.

Whose pipe is it under the sidewalk

In most of the country the homeowner owns and maintains the lateral all the way to its connection with the public main, including the stretch under the sidewalk and the street. A minority of cities and districts take responsibility from the property line or the curb to the main, and a few will share the cost of a lateral repair. The rule is set by the local sewer authority and changes at city limits, so it is the first thing to confirm before any work is scoped; every state guide on this site describes the common patterns, and the installer confirms the rule for the address.

When lining is the wrong answer

A liner takes the shape of the pipe it cures in. If the line has a belly, the belly stays. If a joint has stepped sideways more than the liner can bridge, the liner narrows there. If a section has collapsed, the tube cannot pass. In each case the honest recommendation is bursting, a sectional dig, or an open-cut replacement, and a reputable installer says so on the camera footage before any quote. A liner cured over a belly is an expensive way to keep the same clog.

Finding the right installer

The installers listed on this site have been prequalified: at least five years in business, a strong Google rating, and a check of their licensing, completed work and equipment. Your state page says whether one is listed where you are. If none is, call the national line; we locate a qualified trenchless contractor near you and make the introduction at no charge.

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