Sewer line replacement in Minneapolis

When replacement beats repair

The rule we use: if more than two sections of the lateral have failed, or the material is Orangeburg, the line is done. Clay sewer pipe replacement in Minneapolis is usually a 1900–1940 house whose joints have all opened over a century of frost cycles. Orangeburg pipe replacement is usually a 1945–1970 house in the outer neighborhoods and first-ring suburbs where the tar-paper pipe has deformed. Cast iron sewer pipe replacement comes up inside the house and for the first few feet outside, where the iron has rusted through from the bottom.

In every case, the camera inspection comes first and the video goes to you. You should be able to see the reason for a $10,000 recommendation with your own eyes.

Open trench or trenchless?

Both replace the line. The difference is what gets dug up.

• Open trench is the right choice when the run is short, there is nothing valuable above it, the line is shallow enough that the trench is manageable, or the pipe has collapsed and bellied so badly that nothing can pass through it. It is also the only way to fix a sag, because a liner follows the shape of the pipe it is in.
• Trenchless — lining or pipe bursting — wins when the line runs under a boulevard elm, a driveway, a new patio, or the street, and the pipe is intact enough to work through.

We quote both when both are possible and let you pick.

What is involved in a Minneapolis replacement

Minneapolis laterals are deep. Frost in a hard winter passes five feet, so the pipe is set well below that — six or seven feet at the house and often ten or more at the main. A trench that deep is shored with a trench box, dug with a tracked excavator, and produces a spoil pile the size of a car. Here is the sequence:

1. Locates and permit. Gopher State One Call marks gas, electric and water. We pull the sewer permit from the city and, if the connection at the main is under pavement, the right-of-way excavation permit and traffic control plan.
2. Excavation. From the foundation wall out to the property line or the main, depending on where the failure ends. Where the tap at the main is sound, we can sometimes stop short of the street.
3. New pipe. Schedule 40 or SDR-35 PVC, bedded in sand, sloped at a quarter inch per foot, with a new cleanout at the foundation wall and a second one at the property line so future maintenance never means digging.
4. City inspection of the open trench and the connection.
5. Backfill in compacted lifts, rough grade, and restoration — sod or seed, and concrete or asphalt patching where the sidewalk or street was cut.
6. Final camera pass, recorded, handed to you.

A yard-only replacement is normally two days. Add a day if the street is opened.

The street is the expensive part

The last 15 to 25 feet of a Minneapolis lateral is under the boulevard and the street. Cutting pavement means a city excavation permit, a flagging plan, pavement restoration to city spec, and the deepest part of the trench. That stretch can double the cost of the job, which is why so many replacements here are a hybrid: open trench in the yard, pipe bursting or lining under the street.

Water line at the same time

If your water service is the original lead or galvanized line, ask us about replacing it in the same trench. The two lines usually run within a few feet of each other, and sharing the excavation saves several thousand dollars over doing them separately. See sewer line replacement cost for both.

Related reading: who owns the lateral in Minneapolis, foundation movement and sewer breaks, and what a replacement actually costs by method.