Determining a Pipe Repair: Rehabilitation of Your Pipeline
Damaged pipes can be a serious issue for your infrastructure. Sewer pipes wear down over time through constant use due to natural activities. Sanitary sewers are used every time you flush, and storm sewers are always moving stormwater to prevent flooding. There are also a number of other factors that can result in structural issues, such as the general age of the materials involved, blockages from garbage, and tree roots breaking through the pipe. These pipes can even develop their own sort of ecosystem over time. This wear on your pipes can result in potential issues, such as leaks, blockages, and infiltration. How can we determine the best course of action in repairing and rehabilitating your sewer pipes?
In order to figure out if you need repairs, you might need your pipes cleaned out and inspected to actually see what needs to be repaired. This process involves hydro jetting: using a heavily pressurized water nozzle to blast away at various obstacles, such as grease, debris, roots, dirt, and trash that could be hiding potential damages from view. After a thorough cleaning, video pipe inspection is crucial. Inspection tools, such as a push camera or video pipe inspection crawler, can be used to document the conditions both before and after pipe cleaning, including the kinds of issues that would require a repair. Our team at Trinity utilizes industry leading pipe inspection reports to document structural defects, including (but not limited to) cracks, fractures, joint failures, welding issues, and collapsing pipes. It can also be used to locate your access points and manholes. Sometimes, your pipe might only need a cleaning and inspection. If cleaning your pipe solves your issues that you are facing and there are no other issues determined through an inspection report, then you won’t need to repair the pipe and you’ll save a lot of money in the process!
Once we’ve inspected your pipe and cleaned out anything that could cause a blockage, it is time to discuss two of the best ways to repair your pipes without open-trench excavation: cured-in-place pipe lining (also known as CIPP) and point repairs. This technology is good for repairing cracks, leaks, corrosions that can cause inflow and infiltration issues. Depending on the overall structural integrity of your pipes, CIPP lining is one of the best ways to restore your pipes to proper working conditions.
Cured-in-place pipe involves inserting a resin coated pipe liner made up of felt and fiberglass material into your existing damaged pipe. This liner is inflated inside of the pipe to fit the shape of the existing pipe. A resin curing process utilizing steam or ultraviolet light then allows the liner to harden to the shape after a few hours of treatment. Any existing laterals are then reinstated to allow for fully functional, rehabilitated pipes. This process can keep your pipes in operation for years to come if installed properly.
Point repairs use a similar repair process, involving smaller sections of pipes compared to a full pipe lining. Depending on the extent of the damages from a video pipe inspection, going for a point repair rather than a full lining can be a cost-effective solution to fixing the problem area of your pipe.
If you need to rehabilitate your pipes and restore their functionality, our team at Trinity Subsurface can help get the job done. We offer pipe cleaning, inspection, and pipe lining services as part of our commitment to providing a full service, as well as locating services to determine the locations of your utilities. Visit our website to find out more information about our pipe services.
