Sewer repair in Minneapolis: one bad section, fixed right

When a spot repair is the right call

A sewer lateral in south Minneapolis is 60 to 90 feet long. If 85 of those feet are sound clay and one joint has been pushed open by a silver maple root, replacing the whole run is spending $10,000 to solve a $3,000 problem. The camera inspection tells you which situation you are in, and the bad spot is located from the surface with a sonde so the hole goes exactly where it needs to.

Spot repair makes sense when:

• There is one crack, break or offset joint, and the pipe on either side scopes clean
• Roots are entering at a single joint rather than every joint
• A section near the foundation wall has separated as the house settled
• A short run has collapsed and lining can't pass through it

It does not make sense when the video shows root intrusion at joint after joint, a long belly holding water, or clay that is crumbling. Then it is a replacement or trenchless conversation, and a good contractor will say so on the first visit.

Sewer pipe repair: Minneapolis's most common jobs

Root-broken clay joints. The classic 1920s failure in Longfellow, Nokomis and Northeast. Roots pry the joint open, then grow into a mass that catches everything. The section is cut out and replaced with SDR-35 PVC on rubber gasketed couplings, and the roots have nothing to get into. This is the cracked sewer line repair most Minneapolis homeowners end up paying for.

Offset joints. Frost heave lifts one section relative to the next, leaving a lip that snags paper and wipes. Common at the boulevard, where the street loads the soil differently from the lawn.

Breaks at the foundation wall. Old block foundations settle; the pipe passing through the wall doesn't. The joint just outside the wall shears. This repair is shallower and often the cheapest sewer lateral repair, but it means working right against the basement.

Collapsed sewer line repair: Minneapolis sinkholes. A collapse is usually announced by a sinkhole or a line that a snake can't get past. It means digging regardless — nothing goes through a pipe that isn't there.

Tar-paper pipe. Some 1940s–60s homes in Richfield, Bloomington and parts of southwest Minneapolis got Orangeburg (bituminized fiber) pipe, which ovals and blisters with age. Orangeburg rarely gets a spot repair; once it deforms in one place it is usually deforming everywhere.

Depth is the whole story here

Minneapolis laterals are buried below the frost line, which in a hard winter goes past five feet. Near the house the pipe might be six or seven feet down; at the main, often ten or more. A hole that deep needs a trench box for the crew's safety, an excavator rather than a shovel, and a plan for the spoil pile. That is why a spot repair here costs more than the same repair in a warmer city, and why lining gets a hard look when the bad spot is under the street.

What it costs

Most spot repairs in the yard run $1,500–$4,000 including the permit, backfill and rough grading. A repair at the boulevard or under the sidewalk is toward the top of that. Repairs that require opening the street are usually quoted separately, because street work adds its own permit, traffic control and pavement restoration — ask the contractor what the city requires for your block, and see the cost page.

What a repair day looks like

1. Utilities located through Gopher State One Call (811) before anyone digs — it is required and free.
2. Camera and sonde to mark the exact spot and depth. It is painted on the grass.
3. Excavate, shore, cut out the bad section, install PVC with transition couplings to the clay on either side.
4. Inspection of the open trench where the city requires it, then backfill compacted in lifts so the lawn doesn't sink next spring.
5. Second camera pass, recorded, so you can see the repair and the rest of the line. Ask for the video.

What to check before anyone comes out

A few minutes of looking around makes the first visit faster and the estimate more accurate.

• Find the cleanout. It is a capped pipe near the foundation wall, in the floor or just outside. If there isn't one, say so when you call, because the camera will have to go in through a toilet or the floor drain.
• Note what backs up and when. Floor drain only during laundry? Every fixture at once? A gurgle in the tub when a toilet flushes? Each pattern points to a different part of the line.
• Walk the path to the street. Look for a sunken strip, a soft spot, a dropped sidewalk slab or a green stripe in dry weather.
• Dig out old paperwork. A past camera video, a snaking receipt or a seller's disclosure can show how long the problem has been building.
• Know the house's age. A 1925 bungalow and a 1962 rambler usually have different pipe under the lawn, and the fix often follows the material.

How to compare two spot-repair estimates

Two written prices for the same broken joint can differ by more than a thousand dollars, and the gap is usually in what each one leaves out. Line them up side by side and check:

1. Same location and depth. Both should name the distance from the cleanout and the depth that was marked on the lawn.
2. Same length of new pipe. A five-foot section and a ten-foot section are different jobs.
3. Pipe and couplings named. PVC, the coupling type at each end, and whether a cleanout is being added.
4. Permit and inspection listed. Ask who pulls the permit and get the number once it is issued.
5. Restoration spelled out. Backfill, grading, sod or seed, and any sidewalk or driveway patch.
6. After video included. A second camera pass once the work is done should be on the estimate, not an extra.

If one price is far lower, ask which of those six items it skips.

Mistakes that cost homeowners money

• Snaking the same line over and over without ever putting a camera down it. Each visit clears the symptom and leaves the cause.
• Agreeing to a whole-line replacement on one bad joint because the first estimate was the only one.
• Skipping the after video. Without it, there is no record of the repair for you or the next buyer.
• Pouring drain chemicals into the floor drain before help arrives. It sits in the trap and is dangerous for whoever opens the pipe.
• Not asking about a cleanout while the ground is already open. Adding one later means a second dig.

Read more: signs of a broken sewer line, why clay joints fail here, and what to do when the basement drain backs up.