Trenchless vs traditional sewer repair: when do you actually need to dig?
Traditional excavation is sometimes necessary for severe pipe damage, while trenchless methods like CIPP offer a cleaner fix that preserves your lawn. Homeowners often struggle to know whether a spot repair or full-length lining will hold up long-term for issues like root intrusion.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Having the line scoped and getting a recording of the whole line
- 2Calling a plumber instead of a replacement company to get an unbiased opinion
- 3clearing the line with hydrojetting
- 4digging up the lawn to replace the pipe
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Is CIPP long term solution for this intrusion? And would a "spot fix" of 5-10 feet be good enough, or would it be better to bite the bullet and do the full length of the pipe?”source ↗
“Yeah it's something we're weighing when deciding. You had CIPP done? It seems like a really clean way to repair without digging up a good chunk of the lawn, just wasn't familiar with it before this.”source ↗