Trenchless methods
Sewer pipe bursting in Denver
Not every sewer line under Denver can be lined. Orangeburg that has gone egg-shaped, clay that has collapsed under a garage apron, a four-inch lateral feeding a house that has doubled in size: these need new pipe, and pipe bursting puts it in the ground along the old path without a trench. This page explains the pull, the pits and the pipe that goes in.
Serving Denver · Denver County
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When lining is not enough
A liner needs a host pipe that is still roughly round and continuous. Plenty of Denver laterals fail that test. The bituminous fiber Orangeburg under the post-war subdivisions in southeast and southwest Denver deforms rather than cracks, and once the bore is an oval with blisters hanging from the crown there is no shape left to line. Clay that has collapsed where a driveway or alley apron has been loading it for ninety years leaves a void, not a pipe. And a four-inch lateral from 1950 that now serves a house with a basement rental and three bathrooms is undersized no matter how clean it is. Pipe bursting answers all three by replacing the pipe outright, along its existing path, from two small openings.
The pull
A pit is dug at each end of the run, one near the house or at an existing cleanout and one near the connection to the main, which in the older grid is often at the alley line. A cable or rod string is fed through the old pipe from the main-side pit to the house-side pit. A conical bursting head, sized larger than the old pipe, is attached at the house end along with a string of fused high-density polyethylene pipe. A hydraulic winch or pneumatic hammer at the far pit then draws the head through the old line. The head splits clay, iron or Orangeburg outward into the soil, and the HDPE follows directly behind it in the enlarged path. The new pipe is one continuous fused length, and it emerges in the main-side pit ready to be tied to the main with a proper fitting under the city's inspection.
What the pits look like in Denver
The house-side pit is often avoided altogether by starting at the cleanout. The main-side pit is a few feet square and as deep as the tap, which on an older Denver lot usually places it at the edge of the backyard beside the alley or in the parking strip at the street. The alley itself is not trenched, and the street is not opened unless the tap at the main has failed. Sod is lifted and replaced, or a small square of alley concrete is cut and patched under the right-of-way permit. Compared with excavating the full run, the volume of soil moved is a fraction and the surface restoration is minor.
Soil, roots and what the new pipe resists
Denver's clay subsoil moves with moisture and frost, and that movement is what pried open every joint in the old line. Fused HDPE has no seams anywhere along its length and enough flexibility to ride out ground movement, where clay would shear and iron would crack. The cottonwoods, elms, maples and ash that found their way into the old joints have no seam to follow in the new pipe. Expansive soil does not stop bursting; the head displaces it and the pipe rides inside the path it leaves. The combined sewers under parts of central Denver take on less stormwater once a leaking lateral is replaced, which is a point the city's wastewater staff tend to appreciate.
Bursting versus lining, decided on video
The method is chosen from the camera inspection, not from the symptom. Round-but-leaking pipe is lined; collapsed, flattened or undersized pipe is burst; a line with both conditions is sometimes burst for the bad stretch and lined for the rest, with the two joined at a pit. The trade-offs are laid out at the CIPP reference, and the verified installer covering Denver prices both approaches from the same recording when the call is close. Bursting generally costs more per foot than lining and far less than an open trench across pavement, and it is the only trenchless route to a larger pipe.
Permits and inspection
Inside the city, a bursting job is covered by the same Sewer Use and Drainage Permit as any lateral repair, issued by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, and the main-side pit, if it touches the alley, sidewalk or street, requires a right-of-way permit. The connection to the main is inspected before the pit is closed. Properties in Denver County outside the city line are permitted through their own district. The owner receives the post-pull video, the inspection sign-off and the warranty on the new line, and the installer's verification under the standard at the verified installer directory covers the lining side of any combined job.
Estimates are free. Call now: (720) 606-6223.
Other trenchless services in Denver
Trenchless Sewer Repair Denver
Repair or replace a failed sewer line with little or no excavation.
Sewer Pipe Lining (CIPP) Denver
A resin-saturated liner cured in place forms a new, jointless pipe inside the old one.
Sectional Point Repair Denver
A short liner fixes one bad spot and leaves the rest of a sound line alone.
Sewer Camera Inspection Denver
See what is actually wrong before anyone quotes a fix.
Hydro Jetting Denver
High-pressure water strips roots, grease and scale so the pipe can be inspected and lined.
Sewer Line Repair & Replacement Denver
When a line cannot be lined: spot excavation or trenchless replacement, chosen from the footage.
Questions we hear about pipe bursting
Can the replacement pipe be larger than the original?+
It can, and the chance to upsize is a common reason to choose bursting over a liner. The head is selected to open enough room in the soil for the bigger pipe, so a four-inch clay or Orangeburg lateral is routinely swapped for six-inch HDPE when a house in Denver has gained bathrooms, a basement apartment or an accessory dwelling.
Does bursting disturb nearby utilities?+
The head displaces soil outward a few inches around the pipe, and utilities that cross or run close are located and cleared before the pull. Gas, water and electric are marked through the state one-call system, and the installer hand-digs to verify anything within the clearance zone. Lines crossing well above or below the sewer are unaffected.
What happens to the old Orangeburg or clay pipe?+
It stays in the ground, split and pushed into the surrounding soil, with the new pipe running through the space it occupied. Nothing is hauled away except the material from the two pits, and the pits are backfilled the same day.
How deep and long can a bursting pull be?+
Residential laterals of sixty to a hundred and fifty feet at normal Denver depths are routine single pulls. Longer runs and larger mains are staged from intermediate pits. Depth is limited more by where the pits can be dug than by the pull itself, since the head travels wherever the old pipe goes.
How do I get a price?+
Phone (720) 606-6223 or send the form. A camera goes through the line first to confirm that bursting, not lining, is the right answer; you get the recording and a written finding, and the quote itemizes the pits, the pipe and the permits. Estimates are free; call now.