Ask the Sewer Guy

Traditionally, sewer lines that need to be replaced are dug up using an excavator. An open trench is dug from the house all the way to the connection at the main line, the old pipe is taken out, and new pipe is installed. Then all of the dirt is backfilled into the trench, leaving a mound of dirt from the house to the main. With trenchless sewer replacement, an open trench is not required. A new pipe or liner replaces the original sewer with little or no excavation.

Re-lining a sewer is when a liner is placed in the existing sewer line and is adhered to the walls of the pipe. The liner takes the shape of the existing line, so if the condition of the sewer line is poor, this may not be a good option to fix the sewer line. You should have a sewer camera run down your sewer line to make sure the liner will fix your sewer problem. If there are bellies, breaks or displaced joints you may want to consider other options. Pipe Bursting a sewer line is when your existing sewer line is completely replaced by a new, seamless, stronger pipe. The pipe is made of HDPE (high density polyethylene) and is stronger and thicker than PVC pipe. Two small open pits are excavated, one at the connection by the main and one at the house. Using a small machine and a bursting head, the new pipe is pulled through the old sewer line. The old sewer line is pushed into the bank of the ground out of the new pipe. New connections are made at the house and at the main. In most cases, pipe bursting is less expensive than traditional open trench and re-lining methods. The reason is that the time and materials required for pipe bursting are significantly less; therefore the savings can be passed on to the homeowner.

No. The best advice is to have someone come to camera your sewer. Make sure you know all of the facts before someone talks you into a whole sewer replacement. Unless you visually see what your sewer line looks like inside, you cannot determine the cause. It is best practice to watch the screen with the person running the camera, and ask a lot of questions. You may find that you just need to snake the sewer to clear an area or you may see a break in the sewer line which would require a repair.

This is the replacement of only one or more sections of the pipe. When a spot repair is done, new PVC plastic pipe replaces the broken area and is connected to the viable portion of the preexisting pipe. As time passes, the part of the sewer line that is not replaced becomes susceptible to the same conditions that caused the original destruction. (usually tree roots).

Yes, that is normal. The water prevents sewer gas from seeping back up the pipe into your house.

After the odor has been verified not to be natural gas, some of the common causes of sewer smell are caused by dried up floor drains or broken or missing clean-out covers. Both cases are easily remedied. Simply pour some water into the floor drain if it has dried out. If the clean-out cover needs to be replaced, you can find them in most hardware store and plumbing supply houses.