Pipe Bursting in Orange

Old Towne and everything after

Old Towne Orange, the square-mile historic district around the Plaza, was built between the 1880s and the 1930s and is one of the largest concentrations of pre-war houses in Southern California. The sewer laterals under those Victorians, Craftsman bungalows and Spanish cottages are vitrified clay in short jointed lengths, laid shallow, with cast iron under the house, and many connect to mains that are themselves close to a century old. The tracts that spread out from Old Towne in the 1950s and 60s, toward Tustin Street and out to the 55 freeway, used clay laterals under raised-floor and slab houses. Orange Park Acres and the hillside neighborhoods east of the 55, built from the 1960s through the 1990s, are cast iron and then ABS on slabs, on graded lots, some on large parcels with long laterals and some still on septic.

Clay joints admit roots and shift with the soil. Cast iron under a slab channels out along the bottom. ABS cracks at fittings and bellies where hillside fill settled. Under Old Towne, the extra complication is the streetscape itself: historic curbs, parkway trees and sidewalks that the city and the neighborhood do not want opened.

Clay, hills and old trees

The flats around Old Towne are alluvial clay that swells in the winter rains and shrinks all summer; a century of that has opened joints and offset pipe under most of the district. The hills to the east are clay and engineered fill that settle and creep. Old Towne's street trees are among the oldest in the county, and root intrusion at clay joints is the single most common finding on an Orange sewer camera inspection.

Sewers and permits

The City of Orange operates the local sewer system, and the lateral from the house to the connection at the main is the property owner's responsibility, including the part under the parkway and sidewalk. Work in Old Towne's public right of way is held to the district's restoration standards, which is a strong argument for a method that never opens it.

Lateral repair or replacement needs a plumbing permit from the city, and anything in the sidewalk, parkway or street needs an encroachment permit and an inspection before the pit is closed. The contractor should pull both and say so in the quote.

Which trenchless method fits an Orange lateral

• Sewer pipe lining is the answer for Old Towne clay with root-intruded joints that still holds its shape, and for channeled cast iron under a hillside slab. A cured-in-place liner from the cleanout seals every joint without touching the sidewalk, the curb or the tree.
• Pipe bursting is for a collapsed section, a belly, or a line that needs to be upsized. Two small pits, one of which can usually be kept on private property, and a new fused polyethylene pipe on the old path.
• Sectional point repair handles one crushed joint or one root ball on an otherwise sound line.

Crews that handle trenchless sewer repair in Orange know Old Towne's rules, and a good one plans the job so the historic streetscape is never opened.

What the job looks like

A camera inspection maps the line and marks every defect on the ground with its depth. Hydro jetting clears roots, scale and grease so the pipe wall can be seen and, if the line is being lined, so the resin bonds to clean pipe. Lining runs from the cleanout at the house; bursting needs a small pit at each end of the run. Most residential jobs finish in a day, with water off for a few hours during a liner cure, and you should receive the before-and-after footage. how a trenchless repair is sequenced from inspection to cure is worth reading before the crew arrives.

To compare installers who have been checked for licensing and CIPP training, you can find a verified CIPP contractor through an independent directory.

Pipe Bursting in Orange

How pipe bursting works

A steel cable is threaded through the old sewer line from a pit at one end to a pit at the other. A cone-shaped bursting head, with new high-density polyethylene pipe fused to it, is pulled through by a hydraulic unit. The head splits the old clay or cast iron outward into the soil and the new pipe follows in the same alignment at the same depth. The result is a single fused length of pipe with no joints for roots to find.

When bursting is the right call

• Collapsed sections — a liner needs a host pipe to hold its shape; a collapsed run has none.
• Bellies — a low spot that holds water stays a low spot after lining. Bursting lays new pipe on a fresh bed.
• Undersized lines — bursting can upsize a 3-inch lateral to 4 inches; lining slightly reduces diameter.
• Badly deformed pipe — Orangeburg that has flattened, or cast iron with most of its bottom gone.

What the job looks like

One pit at the house or cleanout, one at the property line or the street connection, each a few feet square. Utilities that cross within a foot or two of the sewer path are located and potholed first. The pull takes an hour or two; the whole job, including fusing, connections, inspection and backfill, is usually one day.

Permits and the street

If the downstream pit is in the sidewalk, parkway or street, a right-of-way permit and restoration to city standards are required in addition to the plumbing permit. If the connection at the main is replaced, the city inspects it before the pit closes. Confirm who is handling this before work starts.

ZIP codes served in Orange

Pipe Bursting is available throughout Orange, including ZIP codes 92856, 92857, 92859, 92862, 92863, 92864, 92865, 92866, 92867, 92868, 92869.

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Questions we hear in Orange