Trenchless, Where the Line Allows It

Trenchless means repairing or replacing the sewer without opening a trench along its whole length. Depending on the line, that is either a liner cured in place inside the old pipe, or a new pipe pulled through and bursting the old one outward as it goes. Either way you get two small access pits instead of a channel across the front yard, and the driveway usually stays where it is.

It is not always the answer. A line that has collapsed, dropped into a belly that holds water, or lost its grade needs digging, because there is nothing sound left to line and nothing to pull against. That is a decision made from the camera footage, not from a price list. We will tell you which one your line is, and if trenchless is not honest for your situation we will say so rather than sell it.

Spot Repair or Full Replacement

Plenty of sewer problems are one bad section: a joint the roots found, a length crushed by a vehicle over the years, a piece of pipe that failed while the rest is fine. Digging one section and putting in new pipe is cheaper, faster, and enough. We did exactly that on a Nashville line recently after a camera located the damaged length, and the repeat backups stopped.

Replacement is the answer when the whole run is at the end of its life rather than damaged in one place. Clay lines with roots at every joint, or cast iron that has scaled and flaked along its length, will keep producing a new failure somewhere else however many spots you fix. Chasing that with repairs gets expensive without ever solving it.

Cast Iron and Clay Under Older Nashville Homes

A lot of housing stock here still drains through the pipe it was built with. Cast iron rusts from the inside, and the scale that builds up narrows the bore and gives waste something to catch on long before the pipe actually fails. Clay does not corrode, but it comes in short lengths with a joint every few feet, and roots find those joints. Either way the symptom is the same: a line that needs clearing more and more often.

The way to know which you have, and how much life is left in it, is to look. A sewer camera inspection answers it in an afternoon, and the footage is yours.

Putting the Yard Back

Often we have to cut hard surfaces during a dig. Concrete driveways, asphalt parking lots and the like. We can refer someone or you can find your own contractor to repair after we are done. We do our best to backfill the trench, pack it down, and we spread seed and hay over grassy areas.