A house on the east side of Mercer Island had a black poly water service leaking somewhere between the meter and the house. A year ago this month, Ben, Ashton, Joseph P. and Steven replaced the whole run with new one-inch PEX pulled through underground, and the yard on top of it stayed as it was.
What We Did
Before the drill came off the truck, the crew had every buried utility on the property located and marked. Then they opened two small pits, one at the meter and one where the service comes up to the house, and ran the directional drill between them beneath the lawn.
The new line went in next: one-inch PEX, pulled back through the bore in a single continuous piece, with no joints anywhere under the yard. A blue tracer wire was twisted along the pipe and taped to it as it went, because a plastic water line is invisible to a locator without one. At the pits the crew made the connections in brass, sleeved the pipe in foam where it turns up, and put the water back on. The old poly line stayed where it was, disconnected at both ends.
Why It Matters
- Two pits instead of a trench. On a long island run in from the road, an open trench would have crossed most of the yard. Two pits at either end left the lawn, the beds and the drive alone.
- One continuous run. A pulled-through line has no fittings under the ground, and fittings are where buried lines fail first. The only joints are at the two ends, where they can be seen.
- Tracer wire is not optional. Plastic pipe cannot be found from the surface without it. The wire costs almost nothing on the day and saves a future crew from hunting for the line with a shovel.
Why Mercer Island
Island lots run long and wooded, from a meter near the road to a house set back behind a drive, as in the neighborhoods between Island Crest Way and East Mercer Way where this job was, and every foot in between is landscaping somebody has looked after for decades. That is what trenchless replacement was made for. Water reaches the island from Seattle Public Utilities and the city distributes it, but from the meter to the house the line is the owner's, and on many island properties it is still the black poly of the 1970s and 80s. When one of those starts leaking it is rarely a one-time event, which is why this one was replaced rather than patched.
Suspect Your Service Line?
If your water bill has climbed with no explanation, or the meter turns with every tap shut off, call 425-245-7552 for a free estimate, or request a callback.
More: trenchless water line replacement · main water line repair · plumbing on Mercer Island · what water line replacement costs