Hiring for Sewer Pipe Relining

What this page is for

This is about choosing the contractor, not understanding the process. How the method itself works, from the wet-out to the cure, is covered on the lining site's relining page. Here the question is narrower: you have a camera report that says the line holds its shape but leaks at the joints or has root intrusion at several points, two or three bids say "line it," and you need to know which of those bids is a real scope and which is a number with a resin brand name attached.

What a relining bid must spell out

A relining bid that fits on half a page is not a bid. Each of the following should be stated in writing, and a contractor who cannot or will not fill one in is telling you the item has not been thought about.

• The exact run. Start point, end point, and footage, each tied to a location on the camera video. "Line the sewer" is not a scope; "line 62 feet from the cleanout at the foundation to the city tap at the curb" is.
• Liner type and manufacturer. Felt or fiberglass tube, the resin family (epoxy, polyester, vinyl ester), and the brand of the system. You are entitled to the manufacturer's product data sheet, and the resin and tube should come from the same system, not be mixed from two suppliers because one was cheaper that month.
• Designed wall thickness. Stated in millimeters, and justified. A four-inch residential lateral and a ten-inch commercial line do not get the same liner, and a pipe with missing sections needs a fully structural design rather than a thin coat that depends on the host pipe to hold it.
• Cure method. Ambient, hot water, steam or ultraviolet light, with the cure time the manufacturer specifies for that resin at that temperature. Ambient-cure jobs rushed in cold weather are a common source of soft liners.
• Pre-cleaning. What will be done before the liner goes in: hydro-jetting, mechanical descaling of cast iron, root cutting, and a second camera pass to confirm the host pipe is clean and dry enough to bond. A liner installed over scale or standing water is the most common reason liners fail early.
• Branch connections. Every branch the liner will cover, named, and the method for reopening each one: a robotic cutter from inside the pipe, or a hand cut from an access point. The bid should also say how the cut will be finished, since a ragged reinstatement catches paper for years.
• Pre- and post-video. A recorded inspection of the cleaned host pipe before lining and of the cured liner after, both delivered to you as files you keep. The post-video is also what the inspector accepts, so it should be in the permit section of the bid as well.
• Permits and inspections. Which office issues the permit, who pulls it, and which inspection closes it.
• Two warranties. The manufacturer's warranty on the materials, in writing, and the installer's warranty on the labor and the installation, in writing, with the term, what it covers, and who you call. A single line that says "lifetime warranty" without a document behind it is marketing.
• What happens when it goes wrong. The bid should say, in advance, what the contractor will do if the liner wrinkles, folds, lifts off the host pipe, or fails to cure to hardness. The honest answers are: cut the defect out and install a sectional repair, or remove and reline the run at the contractor's cost. A bid that does not address this is a bid that assumes nothing ever goes wrong.

Questions that sort the crews from the kits

Lining equipment can be bought or rented with a weekend of training. The license check on the licensing page will not catch this, because a plumbing or utility license says nothing about lining. These questions do.

1. How many laterals did you line last year, and may I speak with two of those owners? A crew that lines every week has a list. A plumber who lines three times a year will hesitate.
2. Who on the crew that will be at my house has been trained by the liner manufacturer, and when? Most manufacturers certify installers and will confirm a name if you call them.
3. Do you own a robotic reinstatement cutter, or will the branches be reopened some other way? A company without a cutter either digs at every branch or avoids lines with branches, and should say which.
4. How do you handle a transition from cast iron to clay, or a diameter change, inside the run? Experienced crews describe the transition liner or the sectional overlap without pausing. Others have not met the problem yet.
5. What will you do if the pre-lining camera pass finds something the first inspection missed? The answer should be a stop, a call to you, and a written change, not a decision made at the truck.
6. Will I receive the post-cure video and the inspector's sign-off before I make the final payment?

Pay attention to how the questions are received. Lining specialists tend to enjoy them. Someone who turns the conversation back to the discount for signing today has answered a different question.

When lining is the wrong answer, and the bid should say so

A reputable relining contractor turns down lining jobs, and a reputable bid says why a method was set aside. The common reasons to decline are physical and the camera shows them: a belly holding water, because a liner follows the sag and the standing water remains; a joint offset or crushed section beyond what the tube can pass, because the liner will narrow or fold there; a collapsed section with no round host to form against; a pipe already at the smallest diameter the fixtures will tolerate, since the liner takes a fraction of an inch from the bore; and a line so short, shallow and accessible that a plain dig and new pipe is simply better work. In those cases bursting or an open cut is the honest proposal, and a bid that recommends lining anyway is choosing the equipment on the truck over the pipe in your yard. The general rule for every method is on what a bid should include; relining just has more places to hide a shortcut.

Before you sign

Insist on seeing the camera footage yourself, and on having your own copy. Check the license in the register your state page names. Compare bids line by line against the list above rather than by their totals. Then choose the crew that answered the questions, not the one that answered the phone first.

Estimates are free. Call now. (855) 804-1434