Cured-in-place sewer pipe lining in Columbine

Serving Columbine · Jefferson County

All Sewer and Plumbing Services, LLC

CIPP Verified installer. Camera inspection before any quote; permits and inspections handled. More about All Sewer and Plumbing Services →

(720) 606-6223

The method in plain terms

CIPP, the trade shorthand for cured-in-place pipe lining, builds a new pipe inside an old one without taking the old one out. A pliable felt or fiberglass tube is impregnated with thermosetting resin, placed inside the cleaned host, expanded against its wall by air or water, and hardened in place. When the cure is finished the tube is a rigid, continuous pipe with no joints, fitted tightly to the host along its whole length. The old clay or cast iron becomes nothing more than a form around the new pipe. The technique was developed for municipal sewer mains and has been used in house laterals for decades; the residential version uses the same chemistry at a smaller scale.

Which Columbine lines qualify

The requirement is that the old pipe still be round and still fall toward the main. Vitrified clay from the pre-1950 neighborhoods qualifies even when every joint has shifted and roots have come through, as long as no segment has collapsed. Cast iron from the 1950s through the 1970s qualifies when it is scaled or rusted through along the bottom but still holds its shape. Orangeburg qualifies if the camera shows it is still circular, which is a narrowing window; once it has gone oval it is a bursting job. PVC and ABS from the late 1970s onward qualify when cracked or separated at a joint. Bellies, collapses and undersized pipe do not qualify. The bentonite clay under Jefferson County has done the same thing to all of these materials, opening joints a little at a time through wet and dry cycles, and a liner is the direct answer because it has no joints to open.

How the install proceeds

The crew begins by confirming the camera findings and measuring the run. The line is hydro jetted to bare wall, because resin will not bond to grease, scale or root debris, and a camera verifies the cleaning. The liner is cut to length, saturated with resin on site or delivered pre-saturated and refrigerated, and installed through the cleanout, either by inversion, where air pressure turns the tube inside out as it advances down the pipe, or by pulling it into place with a winch and then inflating a bladder inside it. With the liner pressed to the wall, the cure is run with circulating hot water or steam for a few hours, or with ultraviolet light for certain fiberglass systems. Once cured, a robotic cutter reopens any branch connections, the ends are trimmed and sealed, and a final camera pass records the finished pipe. the verified installer covering Columbine follows this sequence on every Columbine lateral and provides the before and after video.

What the liner does for the pipe

The finished liner stops the three things that fail a Front Range sewer. Roots from cottonwoods, silver maples, elms and ash trees, which are the most common cause of lateral failure in this semi-arid climate, have no joint to enter. Groundwater that loads the clay during spring snowmelt and summer storms has no crack to infiltrate, which is what the sanitation districts' infiltration and inflow programs are after. And the swelling and shrinking of the soil has no joint to work on. The smooth interior also moves solids more efficiently than the scaled, offset pipe it replaced. The reasoning is set out in more detail at the CIPP reference.

Cure methods and materials

Felt liners with polyester or vinyl ester resin are the standard for residential laterals and cure with hot water or steam. Fiberglass-reinforced liners with ultraviolet-cured resin are stiffer and are used where the host is in poor shape or the diameter is larger. Epoxy systems are chosen for some small-diameter and under-slab work. The contractor should tell you which liner and resin are going into your pipe and why, and the material data should be part of the paperwork, because an inspector or a sanitation district reviewer may ask for it.

When the crew leaves

You should have the pre-lining recording, the post-cure recording, a written description of the liner and resin, the permit record, and a warranty naming its term. Where a Front Range city or district demands a lateral scope or certificate before closing, that package is what satisfies it; the contractor checks what Columbine requires. Installers who deliver it as standard practice are listed at the verified installer directory.

Estimates are free. Call now: (720) 606-6223.

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