Had a sewer dude out with his ‘scope Friday. Watched on the monitor as he pushed a camera through our pipes, like a public colonoscopy. Tree roots woven evenly through 1942 clay, from one end to the other. “It’s a miracle this system hasn’t totally collapsed,” dude said.
Decided to get ahead of the game. With trenchless line replacement, they don’t dig your yard. Instead they attach a conical steel anvil to the end of a length of HDPE (not PVC) pipe — HDPE is more flexible, can bend without deforming in a 4′ radius. Draw a cable through the old line. Attach one end to the anvil, the other to a honkin’ winch on a big old truck. And start pulling. The anvil breaks the old pipe into tiny pieces in the soil where it lies, leaving the HDPE in its place. Cut, attach the ends to existing system, split.
The weird thing about sewer work is that you spend all this money and have nothing tangible to show for it. The toilet flushes just like it did before. Can’t see nothin’ different. Amy said that when our friends come over we can invite them to go hog-wild.
I should snap a photo of the MONSTER DRAIN OUTFLOW-flow-flow that appeared after our $4K of drainage work. It sticks into the street, drains every gutter on the house except for a small 12″ section and just may generate whitewater.
Have fun. Myself, I’d go with the trench. Cheap labor is less expensive than paying off that gee-whiz gizmolator. And strike one for John Henry.
mneptok, do snap a pic – would like to see it. did you guys do area drains, swails, etc. or just french?
reading up on trenchless and how happy people are with it, i’d say trenched sewage isn’t long for this world – there just isn’t a good reason for trenches anymore, except in situations where the winch can’t go or the pipe can’t bend (though I’ve heard of radiuses much smaller than 4′ being done).