Sewer Line Replacement

The city of Portland wants me to replace my sewer line. I was part of a party sewer line but my neighbor has disconnected. I had a scope done which I submitted to the city. I also spoke to a few sewer contractors. One told me that the root intrusion on my line is minor and not enough to warrant replacing the line. The other said it looked like my line would fail soon.

If anyone has a minute, if you could review my scope at the following link and let me know what you think. How serious is the root damage. I don't expect you to watch the whole thing - the 5-7 minute mark should give enough info.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2HnfLslqkA]YouTube - ‪Sewer Scope‬‏[/ame]

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to weigh in.

A fellow Portlander! Your root intrusion is not minor, it is in multiple areas and will only get worse from this point. The cost of having a drain cleaner come out and MAYBE be able to cut through the roots time and time again will more than pay for a repipe. It sucks but you need to replace it all. You also have a lot of grease build up in the crawl, you may want to ask how much more it would be to replace the building drain as well as the sewer, if the extra cost is palatable, do it. People with lines like this keep drain cleaners in business. Best option for you would be to see how long you can go without a back up, then when it backs up, you know you need a repipe. Save up some extra cash in the mean time to cushion the blow to your pocket book. Keep in mind low bid doesn't always mean the best deal.

Thanks for the advice. I have the cash now but it's crazy how expensive this is. I'll be lucky to get away with 7k for 60 feet of sewer pipe.

I personally would have the hole dug with the aid of laborers or a back hoe side job, and either install it yourself or get as much work done before bringing in the specialist.

Wow, 7k? I guess that depends on the soil contents, get some more bids. Havasu is right, hire some laborers to dig it up and pay them cash on the side. That will reduce the costs a lot.

I know the company that camera'd your sewer line and they have an excavation side of the company and they have all of the appropriate equipment to come in there and dig it up, replace the line and backfill in a day. If speed is important to you, they can do it, otherwise I guarantee you you can find a better price.

Yes, sewer costs are unbelievable. I've gotten 3 quotes - all in the 7k price range. Good idea on hiring someone else to do the excavation work.

Before hiring day laborers, confirm that your homeowner's insurance policy covers at least one worker on your property, in the event you have an mishap. I don't want to scare you, but as they say, sometimes "crap happens!" My policy allows workers to be covered while doing work on my property, and it didn't cost me anything.

you NEVER have to replace it all... Dont listen to the sales pitch, look at the facts? does it look like the ENTIRE line has to go... LOL

If you look at the camera you'll see the whole line has to go.

your triping, the entire line NEVER has to be replaced, although everything after the 5min mark should be replaced..

Why would you go to all of that trouble and pay all of that money and not replace the whole sewer line? That is ridiculous. Of course you never HAVE to replace the whole thing, the point is that you don't want trackhoes tearing up your yard a year or two from now, to replace the stuff you didn't the first time.

Also what's with the sales pitch comment? I'm not trying to sell anything, I'm actually looking out for this guy. You need to put more critical thought into your posts before you cost someone more money down the road. Your "never replace the whole thing" concept doesn't apply in every situation and in this case can really screw the customer.

Also, there is a difference here in Oregon between the building drain and building sewer. The building sewer starts 2' outside the building and Kenny's entire sewer needs to be replaced. In his building drain there are belly's and a significant amount of grease build up and it's going to give him issues, so why not do it right and save the money on service calls? Big picture.

i stand by what i said, after the 5 min mark, YES, the other 25 feet before that "NO" the cast iron under the foundation "yes" if it call for it with out tearing up the enitre house..

The cast iron is holding water. Cast is a horrible building drain/sewer material. It comes from the factory with rough walls and the flow line is subject to rotting and build up. The transition to terra cotta is in the mud room and shortly after, the camera quickly passes root intrusion in most of the connections afterward. They are at the top of the pipe and easily missed. Root intrusion = replace the connection. The hubs have shifted and in a good t.c. scenario there would be no lips to catch sewage and debris. This is also a good indicator that roots are working their way into the hubs. At the expense of digging up portions and doing spot repairs, it would be in the best interest of the customer and the plumber to replace most of the sewer/building drain. It was probably the first 15 feet of cast iron that was in fair condition, but I believe that all cast should be replaced anyways. It will continue to be problematic.
Ask a concrete contractor why it is so expensive to replace a 3' x 3' pad in comparison to replacing a whole sidewalk. He/she will tell you that the set up for a pad takes as much as a set up for a large job. We all know this if we have done it before. Dig a 25 foot ditch today and do a repair then dig a 10 foot ditch in 2 months, then dig another 20 foot ditch 4 months after that...or dig a 55 foot ditch today and fix everything. Total the costs for the individual jobs and then bid the one job. Big difference in cost and the customer isn't cursing you in a few months because there is another back up. You may not get the other jobs at that point anyways.

Another-Plumber said:

your triping, the entire line NEVER has to be replaced, although everything after the 5min mark should be replaced..

Click to expand...

I totally agree. The first thing you ALWAYS DO is find the source of the problem ie. tree, bush, etc... fix it then replace the broke pipe (Unless the entire line is deteriorated). In most causes entire line isn't deteriorated so just remove damaged part and splice with new to save a lot of money. Good Luck.

Genius!!!!

Replace the entire line. My guess is it's 3034 PVC pipe which is very thin, and subject to failure. Replace the line with SCH 40 PVC, the difference in price between 3034 and SCH 40 is very minimal compared to the overall job. You will not get cracks in the SCH 40 therefor no root intrusion.

John

We had a local company (expresssewer.com) come out and they did a camera (for free) on our Orangeburg pipe which was collapsing and had tree roots entering. Ended up doing the trenchless as we had a bunch of landscaping we didnt want to dig up. Also, the digging up option was actually more expensive than the trenchless.

Nice to hear that you got everything fixed. Stay trouble free and remember us if you need something in the future.