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Lining creates a new pipe inside the old one without digging it up. On the right line it is an excellent answer, and it is sold as an answer to considerably more than it actually solves. This page is about where it works, where it does not, and what to ask before you sign anything.
Two related methods get called the same thing, and they are not interchangeable. Knowing which one is being quoted to you is the first useful question.
| Situation | Why it suits lining |
|---|---|
| Sewer lateral under a driveway | The excavation is the expensive part, and it is avoided |
| A line under mature landscaping | Same argument — what is on top costs more than the pipe |
| Cracks and root intrusion at joints | A liner seals joints continuously along the run |
| Cast iron drains inside a building | Replacing them means opening walls and floors |
| Multi-unit buildings | Occupied property where demolition is genuinely disruptive |
| A line still round and structurally intact | The liner needs a host pipe to form against |
The common thread is not that the pipe is worse. It is that reaching the pipe is expensive. That is the honest case for lining, and where it applies it is a strong one.
This is the part that tends to be left out of the sales conversation.
Every one of those is visible on camera beforehand, which is exactly why nobody should quote lining without footage. If a quote arrived without a video, ask for one.
On drains, lining competes with excavation. On supply lines: the pressurised copper in your walls. It competes with a repipe, and the comparison is different.
| Epoxy coating | Repipe | |
|---|---|---|
| What you end up with | Old pipe with a coating inside | New pipe |
| Disruption | Lower — less wall opening | Higher |
| Addresses corrosion already present | Coats over it | Removes it |
| If it fails later | Back to the original problem | New pipe, reachable |
| Adds capacity | No — slightly reduces bore | Can, if sized up |
| Typical cost | Between a repair and a repipe | $6,000 – $15,000 |
Our own position, stated plainly: on residential supply lines that have started failing from age and water chemistry, we generally recommend a repipe. New pipe in reachable places is a more durable answer than a coating inside old pipe, and the disruption difference is smaller than it sounds once PEX and rerouting are on the table. See whole house repipe.
Lining is priced by the foot and by diameter, and the access pits and cleaning are a real part of the cost rather than a rounding error. What makes it worth it is the restoration you avoid, which means the comparison only makes sense with the driveway, the deck or the landscaping in it.
Everything we price is on the pricing page.
Every lining failure we have been called out to look at afterwards traces back to the same place, and it is not the resin.
| What was skipped | What happens |
|---|---|
| Roots not fully cut back | The liner forms around them and they keep growing |
| Scale left on the wall | Nothing to bond to: the liner separates |
| Debris in a low spot | The liner forms over it, permanently |
| No second camera after cleaning | Defects the debris was hiding never get seen |
| Line not properly dried, where required | The cure is compromised before it starts |
Cleaning is unglamorous, it takes time, and it is invisible in the finished job, which is exactly why it is where corners get cut on a competitive quote. If two prices are far apart on the same run, this is usually the difference, and asking about it directly tends to be revealing.
More on evaluating a contractor generally in how to choose a leak detection company.
We are licensed and insured plumbers, and this site is about leaks — finding the ones you cannot see and repairing them properly. Roughly half of what looks like a plumbing leak turns out not to be one, so the boundary is worth stating plainly.
Roof leaks are a roofer. Water under an air handler is an HVAC technician clearing a condensate drain. Water under an appliance is appliance repair. Drying, restoration and mold are separate trades again, and gas line repair is SoCalGas or a licensed gas fitter. We detect gas leaks, we do not repair gas lines.
The full list, with the trade to call for each, is on what we don’t do.
Since this page exists mainly to help you evaluate a quote somebody else has given you, here is the short version.
If that reads as talking ourselves out of work in places, it is. The alternative is selling somebody a method their line is not suited to, and that comes back.
Been quoted lining? Get the camera footage and an honest read on whether it fits your line.
(714) 386-7923Call or text, day or nightSchedule a VisitTwo things get called it. Cured-in-place lining pulls a resin-saturated liner into the pipe and cures it into a structural pipe within a pipe. That is the sewer and drain method. Epoxy coating blows epoxy through a cleaned line to coat the inside, which seals pinholes but adds no structure.
On the right line it is genuinely comparable and far less disruptive. On the wrong line it is not, and the difference is visible on camera beforehand: a belly, a collapse or serious offsets all rule it out.
No. A liner forms against the pipe it is installed in, so lining a dip produces a lined dip that still holds water. Correcting a belly means excavating and re-laying to grade. If somebody quotes lining for a belly, ask them how the fall gets corrected.
Our recommendation on residential supply lines is generally a repipe. New pipe in reachable places is a more durable answer than a coating inside old pipe, and with PEX and rerouting the disruption gap is smaller than it sounds.
Trenchless work including lining typically runs $4,000 to $12,000 depending on length and diameter, against $6,000 to $20,000 for a full open-trench replacement. The comparison only means something with the restoration cost included.
Yes, slightly, the liner occupies wall thickness. On most sewer laterals that is immaterial. On an already marginal bore it is a real consideration, and it is a fair question to put to anyone quoting the work.
Always, and no honest quote exists without one. The camera is what determines whether lining is even a candidate. Ask for the footage and keep it. It is your line.
A residential lateral is commonly a one to two day job including cleaning and curing. Cleaning properly is what takes the time, and it is also the step most likely to be rushed — a liner formed against a dirty pipe does not bond.
We are not going to repeat a manufacturer’s number as though we had verified it. What is worth knowing is that a properly cleaned, properly cured liner in a sound host pipe is a durable repair, and that a rushed one is not. Read the warranty and note what it covers.
Far less than an open trench. That is the point. Access pits at each end rather than a trench along the run, which is what makes it attractive under driveways, patios and established landscaping.