Sewer line repair & replacement

The pipe you never think about until it stops

Your sewer lateral runs from the house out to the city main, usually under the front yard, often under the driveway or a mature tree, and typically several feet down. Nobody thinks about it for decades. Then one Thanksgiving the downstairs shower fills up while the washing machine drains, and suddenly it is the most important pipe you own.

The good news is that laterals almost never fail without warning. They warn for months or years — recurring backups, gurgling, drains that got slower gradually. Those signals are worth acting on at a time of your choosing rather than on a holiday weekend.

The three ways they fail here

Roots. The most common by far in Arvada's established neighborhoods. Clay tile and older cast iron laterals were laid in short lengths with a joint every few feet. A joint seeps slightly, a root finds the moisture, and once inside it has a warm nutrient supply and grows into a dense mat. Olde Town's tree canopy is one of the best things about the neighborhood; it is also why its laterals fill with roots. Cutting them clears the flow but leaves the root behind — it grows back, which is why root problems recur on a predictable cycle.

Structural failure. Cast iron corrodes from the inside until the bottom of the pipe is rough, scaled and half its original diameter. Clay cracks and shifts. Both eventually get to a point where clearing the blockage stops being the answer because the pipe itself is the problem.

Bellies and offsets. Ground settles. When the bedding under a section gives way, the pipe sags and that section holds standing water permanently — solids drop out in the low spot and build up until it blocks. Offsets happen where a joint has shifted out of alignment, leaving a lip for everything to catch on. Neither of these is fixable by cabling, and both are obvious the second you put a camera down.

Camera first. Always.

We do not quote sewer work off symptoms. A camera goes down the line and you watch the screen with us, because the difference between “this needs jetting every couple of years” and “this needs replacing” is tens of thousands of dollars and you are entitled to see the evidence with your own eyes. We locate and mark depth from the surface at the same time, so any excavation quote is based on where the pipe actually is rather than where it probably is.

If a contractor tells you your sewer needs replacing and cannot show you footage, do not sign anything. Get a second opinion. This is the single most over-sold repair in residential plumbing.

Repair, replace, or maintain

• Maintain when the pipe is structurally sound and the issue is recurring root intrusion. Scheduled jetting every year or two is far cheaper than replacement and, on a sound clay line, can carry you for a long time.
• Spot repair when one section has failed and the rest of the run is in good condition. Dig only where the problem is.
• Trenchless replacement where the line is a candidate and the surface above it is worth protecting — a finished driveway, established landscaping, a big tree you want to keep.
• Open-cut replacement when the line has collapsed, has a severe belly, or when the excavation is straightforward enough that it is simply the cheaper option.

Permits and utility locates come before any digging, without exception. That is not us being cautious — hitting an unmarked gas line is a catastrophe, and unpermitted sewer work becomes your problem at resale.