Sewer Lateral Inspection

[250mL]

I had to replace two sewer lines from the street to the house. Both properties were in West Sacramento. One was ~40feet and one was ~50feet in length. Price was just over $3,000 each. Some quotes were as high as $8,000, which dropped to $6,000 in a matter of 15 minutes when I told them their quote was ridiculous.

We used The Trenchless Company http://www.dontdig.com/ They seem to service your areas too.

One was due to a partially collapsed Orangeburg pipe. There were no issues with flow at the time, but as identified earlier in this thread, the 25 year lifespan was already pushing 50 years of service. With the $3,000 quote for a trenchless, pipe-bursting, seamless plastic pipe replacement, we decided it was only a matter of time, so we capitalize on what we thought was great pricing.

The other was due to the demolition of a second unit in the backyard. The bank's crew just pushed construction material into the sewer line. Satisfied with the work performed at the above residence, we called them back to do this house too.

The trenchless pipe-bursting replacement was great. View the videos on the website. Only two relatively small holes were dug, 3'x3' at the house and 3'x3' at the street. A seamless heat welded plastic pipe is pulled through your old lines with large hydraulic winch.

The other trenchless method of repair mentioned by previous poster is also explained in their videos. It's the re-lining technique. I believe this method is fine for largely intact pipes where a seamless line is desired. It would have done little for my partially collapsed Orangeburg pipe.

 

[catch2otwo]

I had mine replaced this year. I highly, highly recommend Terra Nova in Richmond. Sheila will answer your questions, whether you hire them or not. She works the phones, the paperwork, the permits, her husband Mirko gets out there and gets it done. She knows the laws, the districts, and who to talk to.

You do own the lateral. It is your responsibility to replace if it needs it. The average cost replacement is about 6 grand, of which the county will rebate back 1500. This is if you have a simple relationship of lateral out to street.

I live in unincorporated El Sob so you will go through the same people I believe, unless you are in a different SEWER district (there are several about).

Video inspection is weird. What happens is that the major companies charge you $250 to inspect and give you a DVD, unless you use them then they rebate it back while they overcharge you. You can rent the unit from Home Depot, but I'm not sure if it burns the DVD for you...I'm not sure what Terra Nova charges, I had already had the sewer-back-up and called the major rooter company who did the inspection in the middle of the night. I do know that the DVD was important, and Sheila used it to get my rebate (no doubt to prove it was bad).

A popular rooter service wanted to charge me more than Terra Nova and not even replace the entire pipe, but tear into my sidewalk. It was ridiculous.

Anyway, it would be worth a phone call if you are not convinced by the helpful hints above.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/terra-nova-engineering-richmond

I had to replace two sewer lines from the street to the house. Both properties were in West Sacramento. One was ~40feet and one was ~50feet in length. Price was just over $3,000 each. Some quotes were as high as $8,000, which dropped to $6,000 in a matter of 15 minutes when I told them their quote was ridiculous.

We used The Trenchless Company http://www.dontdig.com/ They seem to service your areas too.

One was due to a partially collapsed Orangeburg pipe. There were no issues with flow at the time, but as identified earlier in this thread, the 25 year lifespan was already pushing 50 years of service. With the $3,000 quote for a trenchless, pipe-bursting, seamless plastic pipe replacement, we decided it was only a matter of time, so we capitalize on what we thought was great pricing.

The other was due to the demolition of a second unit in the backyard. The bank's crew just pushed construction material into the sewer line. Satisfied with the work performed at the above residence, we called them back to do this house too.

The trenchless pipe-bursting replacement was great. View the videos on the website. Only two relatively small holes were dug, 3'x3' at the house and 3'x3' at the street. A seamless heat welded plastic pipe is pulled through your old lines with large hydraulic winch.

The other trenchless method of repair mentioned by previous poster is also explained in their videos. It's the re-lining technique. I believe this method is fine for largely intact pipes where a seamless line is desired. It would have done little for my partially collapsed Orangeburg pipe.

Excellent info, thanks

 

[Bay Arean]

yeah, when i went online to look for a video of the process, I realized there are two different ways. My understanding was that it pulled an already formed pipe through. But I found one video where the pipe is collapsee plastic then injected with a hardener. I didn't know about that way at all. Like I said, I wish I had been there.

PS. FWIW, I got three quotes and all were in the $6000 range, so I don't know if prices went up, or its a Bay Area penalty for higher cost of things than West Sacto or what. But it seemed fairly consistent. $3K woulda been nice! But when you consider the equipment, labor and red tape with inspectors and all that, it didn't seem unreasonable. They are punching a hole in the street, then fixing it to local specs. They are digging a big ol hole at your house. They are using a loader, a truck to bring it, the winching equipment, asphalt paving, etc etc. To me, it seemed on the reasonable side of things when I consider owning all that crap just to do a job. In the old days, and I did it before, you just dug a big ol hole with shovels and affixed a new piece of terra cotta. Much more lo-tech. Oh yeah, and in our neck of the woods, EBMUD insists that you also install a one-way gate valve so your neighbors sewey will never come into your house.