Sewer line replacement in San Diego

When replacement is the honest answer

• Cast iron with channel rot: the floor of the pipe rusted away so the camera sees dirt, not pipe, along a run
• Clay with roots or offsets at more than two or three joints
• Orangeburg, the tar-paper pipe used in some post-war tracts, which flattens and blisters and can't be lined reliably
• Collapsed sewer line repair. San Diego cases almost always start with a dig at that spot, because the cable stops dead and the camera can't pass
• A line that's been cleared every year for years, where the clearing bills have added up to a replacement without buying one

None of these should be called a replacement job from the driveway. They come from the camera; ask for the footage so you can get a second opinion on it. When the footage does show a failed run, a full sewer lateral replacement (San Diego laterals are usually 40–70 feet) can cost less in the long run than a second and third spot repair.

Open-trench or trenchless

Open-trench replacement means digging a trench along the whole run, pulling the old pipe, laying new ABS or SDR-35 PVC on gravel bedding at the correct fall, and backfilling in compacted lifts. It's the simplest job and the cheapest per foot when the pipe runs under lawn, dirt or a planter bed. Typical range in San Diego: $4,000–$15,000 depending on length, depth and access.

Trenchless means lining or pipe bursting through one or two pits. It costs more per foot, $6,000–$20,000 on most homes, but it doesn't touch the driveway, the patio, the mature tree or the city sidewalk. In San Diego the lateral crosses at least one of those on most lots, and once you add the cost of replacing 20 feet of concrete driveway and a sidewalk panel to an open-trench bid, trenchless usually wins. That's why trenchless is so common here.

Some laterals get both: open-trench across the lawn, a burst under the driveway and the street. Ask for the combination price if it might save you money.

The part under the street

In the City of San Diego the property owner is generally responsible for the lateral right to the main, often including the section under the sidewalk and the road — confirm for your address with the agency that bills you for sewer (in the City of San Diego, the Public Utilities Department). Lateral replacement normally needs a plumbing permit and an inspection, plus a right-of-way permit for any work in the sidewalk or street — confirm with the City of San Diego (or your city or sanitation district). The contractor who does the work pulls the permits; ask for the permit numbers. That section is often the most expensive 15 feet of the job. Pipe bursting from a pit at the curb to the main avoids cutting the street in many cases. Where the main is deep or the connection is failed, an excavation at the main may be unavoidable, and a good contractor tells you before you sign. Who owns the sewer lateral has the detail.

What a complete quote should include

• The permits the job needs (ask which, and for the permit numbers), and who schedules the inspection
• DigAlert (811) utility marking before any digging
• A new two-way cleanout at the property line, which many pre-1970 homes here have never had; ask whether it's included
• Proper bedding, fall and compaction, with the inspection before backfill
• An after video of the new line; ask for it, and for any warranty in writing
• Restoration of dirt and lawn, with concrete and hardscape priced as separate lines you can see

What it costs

A typical 1950s Clairemont or La Mesa lateral is 40–70 feet from the house to the main, usually three to six feet deep in the yard, and six to ten feet at the main on some streets. Open-trench under lawn on that lot is around $5,000–$9,000. The same run with 20 feet under the driveway and the last 15 under the street, done by bursting, is typically $9,000–$16,000. Long runs, deep mains and corner lots push higher. For sewer line replacement cost, San Diego ranges by method are on the cost page, with the line items that move them, and sewer line repair cost in San Diego walks through worked examples.

Cast iron and Orangeburg

Cast iron replacement in 1940s–60s homes is usually two jobs in one: the clay or cast iron lateral outside, and the cast iron drain lines under the slab that feed it. Camera both, because replacing the lateral while the under-slab line is rusting through solves half the problem. The under-slab page covers the inside half. Orangeburg is rarer here than in the Midwest, but it turns up in a few 1940s and 50s tracts, and once it's identified, replacement is the only fix; it's too soft to line. Orangeburg pipe replacement covers how to spot it.

Comparing two replacement bids

Put the bids side by side and check five lines. Footage: both should measure the same run from the same camera file. Method: open-trench, lining or bursting, and where each pit goes. The street: whether the price reaches the connection at the main or stops at the property line. Restoration: which concrete, pavers and plants are priced, and which are left to you. The after video: whether the new pipe is cameraed before the pits are closed.

If one bid is far lower than the other, it usually leaves out one of those lines. Ask the low bidder to add the missing item in writing, then compare again. The gap is often much smaller than it first looked.

Getting the house ready for the work

• Clear a path to the cleanout and the pit spots, and move cars off the driveway the night before.
• Plan for a few hours with no drains: no showers, laundry or dishwasher during the work window.
• Tell the neighbors if a pit goes near a shared fence, a side yard or the alley.
• Mark sprinkler lines and buried yard lighting you know about. DigAlert (811) marks public utilities, not your private lines.
• Keep the permit card, the final inspection sign-off and the after video with the house papers. A buyer will ask for them.

After the new pipe is in

A new lateral needs very little. Keep wipes, grease and paper towels out of it, since no pipe handles those well. Know where the new cleanout is, so the next clearing, if there ever is one, takes twenty minutes. And if you plant a tree, keep it well away from the line's path; the camera locate from the job tells you where that is.