Real Estate Agent · Salt Lake City, UT · Member since 2014 · 473 posts · 230 votes
Hey BP, I have a up-down duplex in Provo, Utah. The basement tenants heard gurgling in the toilet when the washing machine was running upstairs.
Initially thought it was a vent blockage, but we had a camera run through the lines, and there is a 3 foot section of the main sewer line (cast iron) with trench rot. A little further down, there's a section with substantial root penetration. Also some of the pipe joints are starting to get misaligned.
Plumber recommended putting a resin-liner in. Quoted $7,000 for 40 feet. The pipe is about 2 feet down, and will require a few feet of excavating cement where they will put in the liner and a new cleanout access point. About 15' of the 40' is under concrete, and the rest under the front lawn (won't need to be excavated if we do the liner method).
Does 7k for 40' seem reasonable?
Anyone know if pipe bursting is an option in Utah County? Wouldn't be opposed to digging the whole thing out and replacing it at the right price either.
@Account Closed Thanks for the input! If it's the same price, then I'd rather do the liner, since it's less invasive. But if it's a good bit cheaper, I wouldn't be opposed to digging.
What does this type of thing cost out there in Tennessee?
Literally just had 112 feet lined in American Fork last week for about $10k. Super sucky! Who gave you the quote? I liked my guy quite a bit, PM me and I'll get you his details. $7k seems maybe a bit high, but it might be because of the cement portion of things. He got it done in a day and stayed to the quote.
Assuming it is not destroying anything but some concrete and lawn, and that you can get machinery in, I would almost certainly dig and replace. Out here (Tim is near me) I can get it dug and filled easily for a grand, 40 feet of 4 or 6 inch PVC is less than 100 bucks, a couple of fittings, and even if you had to pay an outfit a grand to make the connections you shouldn't be talking more than 2-3 grand tops. You saw cut a trench in the 15' of cement and patch it back. No big deal.
@Taylor Chiu As another source for reference, I had to replace the entire main sewer line for my duplex all the way to the city main (80ft) in Southern California. Due to the angles and turns of the sewer line, they were only able to do the CIPP lining on about half (40ft), and the other half they did pipe-bursting to replace with ABS. My total bill was $7k which included about 2-3 subcontractors that specialized in CIPP lining and 2 of my plumbers who did the pipe-bursting. It took about 6 hours to complete the job which included time for the liner to cure and additional time to put a camera down the line on multiple occasions to assess the scope of work and check on the work. I don't know what the split between the CIPP lining job and the pipe-bursting job but they did tell me that the liner was cheaper.
I did not have to break concrete. The work only required digging up dirt and going through some tree roots on the exterior of the house. Also, insurance did NOT cover it because the sewer line that needed repair was not directly under the physical home, but rather on the front and side lawn area.
@Joe J. Wow, so you had twice the length done in Southern California for the same price (granted, no concrete). Sounds like I need to keep searching....
So the amount you mentioned would have me personally doing the excavating, right?
No, that would be hiring someone to do the dig. Unless you've got some crazy deep sewer lines or solid rock overtop of it, you should be able to find someone with a small excavator that can dig and fill that trench in a day. $125/hr should cover the dig. If you want to do the dig yourself, I don't know what rental prices are there but I can rent a Bobcat or Terramite for half a day for $150, and that's with them delivering the trailer and picking it up. Opening up the trench is the hardest part of the job; you're going to abandon everything else, and just connect the new line at the house and at the sewer main tap or the good part of your existing sewer lateral.
Anyone who does grading work should be able to do this job. If you don't have any reliable contractor networks, easy way to find someone is either A) go to the rental yard and ask who they know, B) call or go to your bulk/building material yards (gravel, topsoil, quarry, asphalt, concrete etc) and ask who they know. There's usually only a few places to get anything, and most guys who are excavators will at some time be buying gravel, grading for driveways, etc.
JD is right on the money. This job is really simple if you think about it. I think the correct term is "excavator". In hillbilly country we call him a "dirt man".