Spot repair

How it is done

The camera finds the defect and the counter gives its distance. A short resin-soaked liner is wrapped around an inflatable carrier, pulled through the pipe to that distance, and inflated so the liner presses against the wall. Once the resin cures, the carrier is deflated and pulled back out. The liner stays, covering the crack or joint from end to end.

The work is done through a cleanout, or through a small pit if there isn't one. Nothing is dug at the spot itself.

When it fits

• The camera shows one bad joint or one crack, and the rest of the line is sound.
• The pipe at that spot is still round.
• The line is otherwise in good enough shape to leave alone for years.

When a full-length liner is the better buy

When the camera finds roots or cracks at several joints. Each spot repair is its own job, and the joints between them are still old. A full-length liner covers every joint along the run at once.

City rules can push the same way. In Richmond Heights, a property can use the lateral program only once in ten years, so one spot repair now can leave the rest of an old line on its own for a decade.

Where a branch joins

A crack or a root problem right where a branch line meets the main run can take a connection liner, a short liner shaped to seal the joint between the two.

What to ask

1. How many defects the camera found, and at what distances.
2. Whether the rest of the line looks sound enough to leave alone.
3. The price of the spot repair and of a full-length liner, from the same video, so you can compare.

Questions owners ask

When is a spot repair the wrong choice?

When the camera finds trouble at several joints along the line. Each spot repair is its own job, and the joints between them are still old. A full-length liner covers every joint at once.

How is the bad spot found from above ground?

The camera head carries a small transmitter. A locator held at ground level picks up its signal, so the spot and its depth can be marked on the surface.