How Trenchless Sewer Pipe Lining Works
Have problems with a sewer pipe at your home and not sure what to do? You probably don't look forward to having to excavate your backyard in order to get down to the damaged pipe and repair or replace it. Thankfully, there are options for trenchless sewer pipe repair by putting a new lining in the pipe. Here is what you can expect to happen with this process.
Inspecting
Everything starts with a standard inspection of the sewer line, which involves putting a camera down the pipe to identify what kind of damage is happening inside it. A plumber will be able to identify rusting, tree roots, damage, or a collapsed pipe to better assess the situation.
Cleaning
If the pipe can be repaired with a new lining, the next step will be to clean it out using a sewer snake or hydrojetting. Hydrojetting is the process of cleaning the inside of the pipe with a powerful stream of water. It is so powerful that it can cut through tree roots and loosen the toughest clogs.
Assembling The Liner
The new liner must be assembled so that it can be inserted into the pipe. A structural liner will be unrolled along with a special calibration tube. The structural liner is what gives the pipe additional stability, and the calibration tube inflates inside the pipe so that an epoxy coating on the exterior of the structural liner can cure against the old pipe. The plumber will measure out the length of the structural liner that they need, and place the calibration tube inside it.
Applying The Epoxy
A special epoxy liner is created and then applied to the exterior of the structural liner. This epoxy liner can be manually rolled directly onto the liner or applied using special equipment where the liner goes between two rollers that evenly coat both sides. The goal is to saturate the felt on the exterior of the structural liner with the epoxy.
Installing The Liner
The coated tube can then be fed through the length of the sewer line. The calibration tube is then inflated to put pressure on the structural liner on the interior of the existing sewer pipe. This will continue for several hours so that the epoxy can cure against the pipe. When finished, the calibration tube is removed from the sewer pipe, and the structural liner is not going to go anywhere.
Reach out to your plumber for more information about sewer pipe lining.