Pipe Bursting in Newton Falls

River-town housing at the forks

Newton Falls grew up around the falls and the mills where the two branches of the Mahoning River come together, and its downtown and the streets around the covered bridge on the East Branch were built mostly between 1890 and 1930. The ranches and small colonials on the higher ground toward Route 5 and the east side were added through the 1950s and 1960s. The older homes have vitrified clay laterals in short jointed lengths with cast iron through the foundation and under the basement slab. The postwar homes have clay too, with Orangeburg possible in some 1950s builds, and PVC only in replacements and the newest houses.

In the oldest blocks the lateral may run under a side yard or an alley to reach a main that was laid long before the street was paved. A camera inspection and a locator tell the installer where the pipe actually goes.

Floodplain soil, silt, and roots

The low parts of Newton Falls sit on river-deposited silt and clay with a water table close to the surface for much of the year, and a wet spring can bring the river up into the lowest streets. A clay lateral with open joints in that ground takes in groundwater constantly, and the water carries fine silt that settles in bellies until the pipe is half full. Frost to roughly three feet heaves the run nearest the house each winter, and on the higher ground the glacial till swells and shrinks with the seasons, working the joints.

Willows, silver maples, and sycamores along both branches and the older streets send roots a long way toward water, and a weeping joint is where they end up. Newton Falls has worked to keep storm water out of its sanitary system, but the oldest sewers still carry some runoff, and in a heavy rain the mains near the river can surcharge into basements with floor drains and no backwater valve.

Lining, bursting, or a point repair

A clay lateral that is still round is lined in place. The installer hydro jets the line to clear roots and silt, inverts an epoxy-saturated felt liner from the basement cleanout, and cures it with hot water, steam, or UV. The liner seals the joints and ends the groundwater infiltration that was carrying silt into the pipe, which is the main reason Newton Falls laterals clog. For one open joint in an otherwise sound run, a sectional point repair cured over that spot avoids a full liner.

When the camera finds a collapse, a joint offset more than a third of the diameter, or a belly deep enough to hold standing water, pipe bursting is the method. A bursting head is pulled from a pit near the main to a pit at the house, breaking the clay while fused HDPE follows. In the river-bottom streets the pits fill with water quickly, and the crew should bring a pump and plan the work for a dry stretch if possible.

Permits and the inspection in Newton Falls

Newton Falls issues the permit for lateral work and inspects it, reviewing the pre- and post-cure video for a liner or the open connection before backfill for a bursting job. Opening the tree lawn, sidewalk, alley, or street requires a right-of-way permit through the city. The city's sewer-use rules prohibit tying downspouts, sump pumps, and footer drains into the sanitary lateral. Township addresses on county sewers go through the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer instead.

In most communities the owner's responsibility runs to the main. Confirm the connection point for your street, especially in the old blocks where the main may be in an alley, and ask the installer to include the permit and inspection in the quote.

What the day looks like and how to compare bids

A lining crew jets and films the line, measures it, wets out the liner, inverts it, and cures it over a few hours. Branch connections are reinstated with a robotic cutter and the finished pipe is filmed. Drains are back by late afternoon. A bursting crew brings an excavator, a pulling rig, and a dewatering pump, and returns the next day to backfill, compact, and restore the surface.

Each bid should name the method, the footage, the liner thickness or HDPE size, and the plan for groundwater. To compare installers whose training and insurance have been verified, find a verified CIPP contractor and ask for a reference from a Newton Falls or Warren job in river-bottom soil. A crew that has lined a silted lateral near the forks will know how much jetting it takes before the camera can see the pipe.

Pipe Bursting in Newton Falls

How pipe bursting works

A steel cable is threaded through the old sewer line from a pit at one end to a pit at the other. A cone-shaped bursting head, with new high-density polyethylene pipe fused to it, is pulled through by a hydraulic unit. The head splits the old clay or cast iron outward into the soil and the new pipe follows in the same alignment at the same depth. The result is a single fused length of pipe with no joints for roots to find.

When bursting is the right call

• Collapsed sections — a liner needs a host pipe to hold its shape; a collapsed run has none.
• Bellies — a low spot that holds water stays a low spot after lining. Bursting lays new pipe on a fresh bed.
• Undersized lines — bursting can upsize a 3-inch lateral to 4 inches; lining slightly reduces diameter.
• Badly deformed pipe — Orangeburg that has flattened, or cast iron with most of its bottom gone.

What the job looks like

One pit at the house or cleanout, one at the property line or the street connection, each a few feet square. Utilities that cross within a foot or two of the sewer path are located and potholed first. The pull takes an hour or two; the whole job, including fusing, connections, inspection and backfill, is usually one day.

Permits and the street

If the downstream pit is in the sidewalk, parkway or street, a right-of-way permit and restoration to city standards are required in addition to the plumbing permit. If the connection at the main is replaced, the city inspects it before the pit closes. Confirm who is handling this before work starts.

More trenchless services in Newton Falls

Questions we hear in Newton Falls