When to reline sewer pipes
Not every pipe should be relined, and not every fault can be. How to tell.
Quick answer
When should a sewer pipe be relined?
A sewer pipe should be relined when it has structural faults, cracks, displaced joints or root intrusion, but still holds its shape and line. It should not be relined for a coating that only needs cleaning, for a total collapse where there is no host pipe, or for back-fall, which relining cannot correct. A survey makes the call.
Three questions that decide it
Whether to reline a sewer comes down to three questions, answered by a CCTV survey. Is the problem structural or just a coating? Does the pipe still hold its shape and line? And is the gradient correct? Relining is the right answer only when the fault is structural, the pipe is intact enough to line, and the fall is sound. Get any of the three wrong and relining is either unnecessary or impossible.
Reline when
- The pipe has cracks or fractures but still holds its shape. Relining seals them and restores structural integrity from inside.
- Joints have displaced or opened but the pipe ends still meet. A liner bridges them jointlessly.
- Roots have intruded through joints. Relining seals the joints and shuts the roots out, though the joint defect that let them in must be lineable.
- A run has several such faults. One full-length liner treats them together, avoiding several separate digs.
- The pipe is deep or under a surface that is costly to excavate and reinstate, a driveway, courtyard or road, where avoiding the dig is worth most.
Do not reline when
- The fault is only a coating of grease, scale or sludge. That needs cleaning, not relining; lining over a dirty pipe fails anyway.
- The pipe has totally collapsed. There is no host pipe for a liner to cure against, so the section must be excavated and replaced.
- The line has back-fall or the wrong gradient. Relining follows the host pipe faithfully, so it preserves the fall fault rather than fixing it.
- The pipe is degraded along its whole length rather than at discrete points, where replacement is the sounder investment.
Why the survey is not optional
Every distinction above is invisible from the surface and visible on a camera. Whether a fault is structural or a coating, whether a pipe holds its shape, whether the fall is right, all of it is read from the survey, none of it from the symptom at the fixture. This is why relining decisions cannot be made over the phone, and why a contractor who recommends relining without surveying is guessing. The survey also protects you the other way: it stops you being sold a reline when the pipe only needed cleaning, which is a far cheaper fix. See relining versus replacement for the cost comparison.
Frequently asked questions
When is relining better than replacing a sewer pipe?
Relining is better when the pipe has structural faults, cracks, displaced joints or root intrusion, but still holds its shape and line, because it repairs from inside with no excavation and avoids reinstating whatever sits above the pipe. Replacement is better, and necessary, when the pipe has totally collapsed, has back-fall, or is degraded throughout. The survey establishes which, and on a deep line under a hard surface the saved excavation makes relining the clear choice where it is possible.
Can a pipe be relined if it only has grease build-up?
No, and it should not be. A grease or scale coating is a cleaning problem, cleared by jetting, not a structural fault needing a liner. Relining a pipe that only needs cleaning spends far more than the job requires, and lining over a dirty pipe fails because the liner cannot bond. If a survey shows only a coating and a sound pipe underneath, the correct and cheaper answer is cleaning.
Why can't back-fall be fixed by relining?
Because relining follows the host pipe exactly. A liner takes the shape and the path of the pipe it is cured inside, so if that pipe was laid at the wrong gradient, running uphill or too flat to carry solids, the liner sits at the same wrong gradient. The fault is the pipe's position, not its wall, and only relaying the section to the correct fall corrects it, which means excavation rather than relining.
How do I know if my sewer can be relined?
Through a CCTV survey. It reveals the three things that decide it: whether the fault is structural or just a coating, whether the pipe still holds its shape and line, and whether the gradient is sound. All three are invisible from the surface, so the decision genuinely cannot be made without looking. A reputable contractor will survey before recommending relining, both to confirm it will work and to avoid selling it where cleaning would do.
Is when to reline sewer pipes available near me?
Near me is a fair thing to search for, and here is how it works with us. We provide when to reline sewer pipes across Dubai, working from our base in Al Quoz Industrial Third, so a near me search is answered less by a branch on your street and more by how quickly we can reach you. That depends on where you are in the city, the time of day and access, so rather than claim to be the nearest, we ask where you are and give you a realistic time to attend. Tell us your location and what you need, and we will be straight about when we can be there.
Related pages
Contact
Ask about your pipe
If a survey has found a defect, tell us what it says. We will tell you whether it relines, cleans, or has to come up.
Phone
+971 56 864 8994
Email
info@jetdrainpro.com
Should your pipe be relined?
Tell us what a survey found and we will tell you honestly whether relining fits, or whether cleaning or excavation is the right call.