Pipe Bursting in South Hackensack

What fails under South Hackensack homes

The Northeast has the widest mix of old pipe anywhere: cast iron and clay from the early 1900s, Orangeburg from the 1940s through the 60s, and some transite and even wood-stave pipe in the oldest towns. Laterals are long and deep and typically cross a sidewalk and a street to reach a main that may be a century old.

Freeze-thaw cycles, dense clay and rocky glacial soils, big street trees, and tight urban lots leave little room for an excavator even when the ground allows one. Cities and towns tightly control any cut in the sidewalk or roadway.

Lining or bursting from inside the property avoids the street permit, the traffic control, and the restoration bill that make an open-trench replacement so expensive here.

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.

Getting it done in South Hackensack

A camera inspection maps the line and marks every defect on the ground with its depth. The line is cleaned with a hydro jetter so the pipe wall can be seen and, if it is being lined, so the resin bonds to clean pipe. Lining works from the cleanout at the house; bursting needs a small pit at each end of the run. Either way the yard, driveway and slab in between are never opened. Most residential jobs in South Hackensack finish in a day, and you should receive the before-and-after footage as part of the job.

Permits are part of it. Lateral work in South Hackensack normally needs a plumbing permit, and anything in the sidewalk, parkway or street needs a right-of-way permit as well. The contractor pulls those and schedules the inspection; if a quote does not mention them, ask.

Finding the right contractor in South Hackensack

Simple Drain Repairs, Inc. is the CIPP Verified installer for South Hackensack and the rest of Bergen County NJ. Verification means license, equipment and completed lining work have been checked through the curedinplacepipe.net program. Use the form below or call (877) 407-4157 and describe the symptoms; a camera inspection is the first step. Estimates are free. Call now.

ZIP codes served in South Hackensack

Pipe Bursting is available throughout South Hackensack, including ZIP codes 07606.

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