Shit Happens! Broken Sewer Line on New Year's Eve

Just before New Year's Eve, we began to experience clogged drain pipes in our bathroom.  The toilet wasn't flushing properly, the shower drain was backing up. When snaking the line by plumbers didn't work, the plumbers dug an 8 ft deep trench in my beautiful drought tolerant garden and found roots in the 70 year old clay pipe leading from the yard, under the city street, toward the city's main sewer line.






In LA, even if this lateral line is under city streets, the homeowner is responsible for its repair. This is because "property owners are responsible for maintaining and repairing sewer laterals, including the lower lateral. In the City of Los Angeles, in almost all cases, the owner of private property owns the property to the centerline of the street. An easement grants access to the street by the public. The City’s Municipal Code allows property owners to connect to the public mainline sewer through sewer laterals. Though the lower lateral is located under the street or otherwise in the public right-of-way, the lateral can legally only serve one property lot. Therefore, it is not for the public benefit and the City cannot maintain or repair lower laterals at the expense of the City's ratepayers." See LA City Sanitation Department Information. Also  See here.

To dig up the city street requires a permit, a special plumber's license. The entire process will take over two weeks, during which time we will need to rent a Porta Potty as an out house during the rainy weeks of winter, and wait for the work to be done. Street sewer contractors can be very expensive. We were given a quote of at least $35,000 to dig up the street and repipe. The City will have to perform traffic control and city public work requirements will be overwhelming. Homeowners insurance won't cover this work since it is not under the house but under the city street. I can't even imagine what my .family will have to go through.

Fortunately, modern plumbing was able to use a Cured In Place Piping technology developed in England by this chap called Eric Wood. High pressure water is first injected into the pipe to thoroughly clear it of roots and debris.  A balloon is then inserted into a sleeve that is filled with epoxy. The sleeve/balloon ensemble is inserted into the existing broken pipe. The balloon is then filled with air to ensure the sleeve forms a snug tube along the inside of the existing broken pipe.  Heat in the form of hot water is then forced through the pipe to cure the epoxy in the lining. In about an hour, the new epoxy pipe is hardened and a new pipe is formed and connected to the city line. The balloon is then removed. At a cost of little over $10, 000 this technology is not cheap, but it is at least not $35, 000.  A friend of mine called this balloon angioplasty for the sewage pipes and this solved my shitty problem.

This is all done under the street without tearing it up. After three days of living in hotel rooms and using Trader Joe's restroom, we are human again. What a relief. I now have great respect for the plumbers and people who research and develop new technology to repair our collapsing infrastructure with the least invasive kind of surgery. The thing is, how can people afford this!!
Anyway, I feel so relieved going into the New Year with what has been taken for granted: running water and a working sewage system.

"In the City of Los Angeles, as in most other cities and municipalities,