Sewer excavation occurs when your main sewer line must be replaced. The main sewer line is the line which connects your home to the City of Phoenix’s sewer system. Homeowners are responsible for this line.
What to do if a plumbing company has told you that you need a sewer excavation
There are a few companies in the area who offer to come to your place for free to give quotes. On multiple occasions we have come out to give a second opinion. Upon further inspection, in a surprising number of cases, the problem would be remedied with a $2500 repair instead of a $5,000 repair.
Sewer excavation is a major procedure
Before you proceed, you may wish to have a sewer camera inspection of your line. A sewer camera inspection can is very thorough. We can determine if you have clogs, or a collapse, or see if roots have invaded your line.
If there are roots in the line, in many cases, just the damaged line can be replaced rather than the entire line going from the street all the way to your house. Of course, each case is very different.
There is always the possibility that your line is simply worn out and a major portion has collapsed. If that’s the case then you have no choice but to replace it.
This is a major and disruptive procedure. Most companies will bring a backhoe. Good news: Bobcat backhoes are much smaller than the traditional full size. Most companies will bring one of these.
However, it will have to dig up the area over your sewer pipe. After that the old pipe will have to be removed and then replaced. Finally the dirt will have to be replaced.
During this procedure, your water will be cut off as there’s no where for it to go while the pipe is being replaced.
Naturally you will have many questions.
Questions about excavation
How long will this take? I need to use my water!
It’s really difficult to say until we see the scope of the problem. Sometimes it’s surprisingly quick; other times it’s not as quick as anyone would like. The important thing is to do it right so that it doesn’t have to be done again anytime soon.
If you have to excavate, how long will it take?
If you have to replace the sewer pipe, it typically takes 1-2 days. In more complicated situations it may take 3-4. The amount of time is not nearly as important as making sure that it’s done right. You don’t want to do this again anytime soon.
When sewer line issues arise, give us a call and let us put our 20 years of plumbing experience to work for you.
