Repairing Clay Sewer Pipes in South Florida – Before It’s Too Late

As a property manager in South Florida, we have an obligation not to spend money from the reserves unless we have to. That however has to be weighed against the increased cost of taking action later, when that cost is not only measured in increased dollar terms but in “emotional” and “inconvenience” cost.

Recently a mobile home park in Boca Raton had a sewer pipe backup emergency, the day before Thanksgiving. The property manager had been paying drain cleaning plumbers to clean the sewer pipes on a regular basis. The clay sewer pipes under the units would backup due to root intrusion, or root growth into the pipe. The roots capture debris which stops all flow inside the broken sewer pipes.

The first hint of real pipe repair trouble was when a sewer manhole started to flood into the road. Then the calls started to arrive at the front office, people complaining that their toilets and drains were backed up and their floors are flooded. Everyone was expecting guests the next day for Thanksgiving.

The City of Boca Raton in South Florida was called out to inspect the sewage spill, the health department fined the property owner, and someone contacted the news stations, and soon the site was considered “condemned”, in a way.  Emergency plumbers showed up with a Vactruck to vacuum the waste and clean the pipeline. Emergency rates were charged by the plumbing contractors knowing that there was no time to get competitive bids.

Once the emergency crews left a sewer inspection video was carried out in South Florida.  It revealed that oak tree roots had cracked the clay sewer pipes to such an extent that the clay pipe roof had collapsed, causing the complete failure of the sewer pipes service the entire mobile home park. In addition, the collapse was located underneath the clubhouse, which would have to be excavated and rebuilt in order to do the drain pipe repair. Their total pipe replacement cost was going to be $78,000, so the residents of this Boca Raton mobile home park expected a huge assessment to cover the costs of this pipe repair.

There was however a more modern way to repair sewer pipes, pipe re-lining. An inflatable tube in placed in the area where the missing or broken sewer pipe is. That tube has been wrapped in a fiberglass fabric that has been saturated with resin that hardens in 3 hours. When the tube is inflated, the cloth takes on the shape of the pipe, adhering to the pipe to become the new pipe. This is called a point repair or sectional repair. The total pipe repair cost was $5,500 and was performed by www.CrafsmanPipeLining.com. Their website also offers a very informative pipe lining E-book for free, delivered directly to your email.