Epoxy Lining a Sewer Pipe – Is it a good option?
So it is time for a dreaded repair in a 90 year old house here in Colorado. I have searched for opinions on the forum but did not find anything. I have root intrusion in my sewer drain pipe. Repair is expensive of course so I have had it videoed twice from two different contractors to get their educated opinions. The pipe is ABS under the poured basement floor. Transitions to cast under a sun room ( 1940s addition that is near the same level as the main floor which is about 4 feet above ground level), then transitions to clay pipe out to the tap in the street. The main root intrusion is in the cast section under the sun room and there is some minor intrusion in the clay section. There are no major distortions in the line but there are joints that appear to be shifted slightly. The step is not more than the wall thickness of the pipe or maybe 3/16″ max.
I prefer to do things for the long term and I intend to excavate and replace the clay section from the edge of the house to the street. The problem is the cast section under the sunroom would be extremely difficult and expensive to excavate so pipe bursting or epoxy lining seems to be the choice I need to make. With pipe bursting, the poured basement floor would need to be cut 3′ X 5′ and a hole dug to place the machinery. This is not as bad as it could be as I am luckily in the middle of remodeling so the floor is bare concrete and dirt can be piled in that room. The epoxy lining option would also require excavation just outside of the sunroom and the liner would just cover the cast section under the sunroom back to the ABS which is about 10 feet long. For both solutions, cleanouts would be added outside the house at the excavation site.
My questions are:
1) Is epoxy lining a good option? What are the downsides and causes of failure in epoxy lining the cast section?
2) Are there any real differences in liner manufacturers?
3) Is there anything specific that I need to look at to make sure my contractor is doing the highest quality work?
Thanks for your help.
Anthony
Replies
I'm kind of interested in this too, for a slightly different scenario. (Well, more than "slightly".) We have a 1976 "split entry", and heat to the lower level is delivered through Transite ducts (roughly 8") buried under the floor. Of course, "buried Transite ductwork" is another way of saying "radon conduit", so we're looking to fix the problem some way that doesn't involve digging up the entire (finished) floor. The epoxy liner looks like a good possibility.
In my opinion the epoxy lining is a great repair, as long as you don't have any laterals entering the epoxied section. If you do neither they nor their hubs will be repaired and you won't be any better off then before you dropped your $5K on lining. If cutting your basement floor is not a big issue I'd cut enough up to replace the entire bad section with PVC.
Thanks and another option
Thanks Florida. I am considering the PVC but I got another option today from local plumber with 50 years in the business to create a new hole. Evidently they can drive a pointed cone through the section creating a new hole. New pipe would be installed through the bore. I am awaiting a quote. The dig in the basement is smaller with this option.
If you have laterals entering you'll have the same problem. cutting and replacing concrete is really not a big deal.