Cured-in-place sewer pipe lining in Boston

Serving Boston · Suffolk County

New England Pipe Restoration, Inc.

CIPP Verified installer. Camera inspection before any quote; permits and inspections handled. More about New England Pipe Restoration →

(877) 627-4401

What cured-in-place lining is

Cured-in-place pipe lining, CIPP, rebuilds a sewer line from inside without removing the old pipe. A flexible tube of felt or fiberglass is saturated with resin, pulled or inverted into the cleaned pipe, pressed against the wall with air or water pressure, and cured with hot water, steam or ultraviolet light. The resin hardens into a smooth, jointless pipe that fits the old one like a sleeve. The clay, cast iron or Orangeburg that was failing becomes the mold; the liner carries the flow from then on. In Boston that means a lateral that has leaked at every joint since the Eisenhower administration is sealed end to end in an afternoon, through the basement cleanout, with the yard and the street untouched.

Which lines qualify

A liner needs a host pipe that still has its round shape and its slope. Vitrified clay with open, root-filled joints, the most common failure under pre-1960s Boston homes, is the classic case. Cast iron that has rusted through along the bottom, the typical basement failure, lines well because the liner does not need the old pipe to be watertight, only to hold its form. PVC that has cracked or separated at a joint lines well. Orangeburg lines if it has not yet gone flat. What does not qualify is a collapse, a long belly holding standing water, or a line too small for the house; those are pipe bursting jobs. the verified CIPP installer for Boston makes that call on every Boston lateral from the camera footage.

The installation, step by step

The camera goes in first to map the line and mark each defect's distance and depth. The line is cleaned with a hydro jetter until the wall is bare; roots are cut, scale and mineral deposits are removed, and the camera confirms it. The liner is measured and wet out with resin, then inverted or pulled into the pipe from the cleanout. Pressure holds it against the wall while it cures, two to four hours for a residential lateral. After the cure, a robotic cutter reopens any branch connections from inside, and the camera records the finished pipe. The materials and the steps are described in more depth at the CIPP reference and installer directory.

What the liner does for the pipe

Three things. It seals: there are no joints for roots to enter or for groundwater to infiltrate, so the recurring root problem and the wet-basement infiltration both end. It strengthens: the cured liner is a structural pipe in its own right, designed for the soil, frost and traffic loads above it, so a pipe that was losing its bottom is whole again. And it flows: the smooth interior carries more than the corroded, scaled pipe it replaced even though the diameter is slightly smaller, which is why slow drains speed up after lining.

Cure methods and materials

Hot-water and steam cures use polyester or vinyl ester resin in a felt tube, the workhorse for residential laterals in Suffolk County. Ultraviolet cure uses a fiberglass tube with a UV-initiated resin, cured by a light train pulled through the pipe; it is faster and more controlled and is common on larger-diameter and commercial work. Either way the proposal should name the liner material, the resin, the design thickness and the warranty term.

After the job

You should receive the pre-inspection video, the post-cure video and the written warranty. Keep all three with the house papers. A lined lateral with that documentation is an asset at sale, and it answers the question a buyer's inspector or lender will ask. Verified installers, checked for license, equipment and completed work, are listed at find a verified lining contractor.

Estimates are free. Call now: (877) 627-4401.

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