At an Olympic Hills home in Lake City, a six-inch side sewer shared with the neighbors had settled, and the old concrete pipe was breaking apart. Over two days in February, Ben, Jeremy and Joseph T. dug down to it, rebuilt the settled section in new PVC and lined the shared run out to the city main.
What We Did
A section of the shared line had sunk, and the old concrete around it had cracked and let roots in, including into a length of plastic that had been pushed into one of the concrete bells years before. The crew dug down to the settled section and braced the trench with shoring before anyone worked in it.
They replaced the sunken pipe, the wye where the lines join and the old concrete back toward the house with SDR 35 PVC, bedded the new pipe in gravel to keep it from settling again, and brought a new cleanout up toward the yard. The crew also lined the shared side sewer out to the city main with a six-inch Perma-Liner, a cured-in-place liner that forms a new pipe inside the old one, so the run toward the street did not have to be dug up. The repair carries our two-year warranty on parts and labor, and the liner carries fifteen years.
Why It Matters
- A settled section does not get better. Solids collect in the low spot and roots work into the cracked joints, so clearing the line only buys time.
- The bedding is the repair. New pipe laid on firm gravel holds its grade where the old pipe sank.
- A cleanout makes the next visit short. The line can now be cleared or filmed from the yard instead of through the house.
- Lining finishes the job without more digging. The shared run to the main got a new pipe inside the old one instead of another trench.
Why Seattle
In Seattle the side sewer belongs to the property it serves, all the way out to the public main under the street, and Seattle Public Utilities is clear about shared lines: from the point where your pipe joins a neighbor's, you and your neighbors share its maintenance and repair. SPU asks neighbors to agree on the scope of a repair before the work starts, and the repair needs a side sewer permit from the City. On a shared line, a camera inspection shows every owner where the failure is and which stretch they share.
Call About a Side Sewer in Seattle
Call for a free estimate, or request a callback. We camera the line, show you what is down there and quote the repair before any digging starts.
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