Sewer line replacement in San Diego

When replacement is the honest answer

• Cast iron with channel rot: the floor of the pipe rusted away so the camera sees dirt, not pipe, along a run
• Clay with roots or offsets at more than two or three joints
• Orangeburg, the tar-paper pipe used in some post-war tracts, which flattens and blisters and can't be lined reliably
• A collapsed sewer line, where the cable stops dead and the camera can't pass
• A line that's been cleared every year for years, where the clearing bills have added up to a replacement without buying one

We don't call any of these a replacement job from the driveway. They come from the camera, and we save the footage so you can get a second opinion on it.

Open-trench or trenchless

Open-trench replacement means digging a trench along the whole run, pulling the old pipe, laying new ABS or SDR-35 PVC on gravel bedding at the correct fall, and backfilling in compacted lifts. It's the simplest job and the cheapest per foot when the pipe runs under lawn, dirt or a planter bed. Typical range in San Diego: $4,000–$15,000 depending on length, depth and access.

Trenchless means lining or pipe bursting through one or two pits. It costs more per foot, $6,000–$20,000 on most homes, but it doesn't touch the driveway, the patio, the mature tree or the city sidewalk. In San Diego the lateral crosses at least one of those on most lots, and once you add the cost of replacing 20 feet of concrete driveway and a sidewalk panel to an open-trench bid, trenchless usually wins. That's why it's the majority of the replacements we do.

Some laterals get both: open-trench across the lawn, a burst under the driveway and the street. We price the combination if it saves you money.

The part under the street

In the City of San Diego the lateral is yours right to the main, including the section under the sidewalk and the road. Replacing that section needs a right-of-way permit, traffic control, and the city's inspection of the tap into the main, and it's the most expensive 15 feet of the job. Pipe bursting from a pit at the curb to the main avoids cutting the street in most cases. Where the main is deep or the connection is failed, an excavation at the main is unavoidable and we'll tell you before you sign anything. Who owns the sewer lateral has the detail.

What's included

• Permit from the city (plumbing permit, plus right-of-way permit where the work is in the street)
• DigAlert utility marking before any digging
• New pipe with a two-way cleanout at the property line, which most pre-1970 homes here have never had
• Proper bedding, fall and compaction, inspected by the city before backfill
• A post-job camera pass, saved for you
• Restoration of dirt and lawn; concrete and hardscape are priced separately and shown on the quote

What it costs

A typical 1950s Clairemont or La Mesa lateral is 40–70 feet from the house to the main, three to six feet deep. Open-trench under lawn on that lot is around $5,000–$9,000. The same run with 20 feet under the driveway and the last 15 under the street, done by bursting, is typically $9,000–$16,000. Long runs, deep mains and corner lots push higher. Sewer line replacement cost San Diego-wide is on the cost page, with the line items that move it, and sewer line repair cost in San Diego walks through worked examples.

Cast iron and Orangeburg

Cast iron pipe replacement San Diego homes from the 1940s–60s need is usually two jobs in one: the clay or cast iron lateral outside, and the cast iron drain lines under the slab that feed it. We camera both, because replacing the lateral while the under-slab line is rusting through solves half the problem. The under-slab page covers the inside half. Orangeburg pipe replacement San Diego-wide is rarer than in the Midwest, but we find it in a few 1940s and 50s tracts, and once it's identified, replacement is the only fix; it's too soft to line.