Lateral Lining Costs
“How much does it cost to get into lateral lining sewer pipes? I’ve talked to some guys who’ve paid over $150,000 to line laterals and others who have less than $15,000 invested. What’s the ‘right’ answer?
Like anything else the answer depends on you and what you are trying to accomplish. If you need to travel between point A and point B that’s 50 miles away, you could get there in a $500 car or you could get there in a $1,000,000 car. There are so many other factors than the initial trip. How often will you take this trip? How fast do you need to make this trip? What is the trip for and what are you trying to accomplish – just get there, impress the party where you’re arriving? Can you afford breakdowns? Do you need climate control? Good tires? Fuel? The list goes on and on. So let’s start with the basic things you absolutely need.
There are a few components you need regardless of the method of getting the liner in the ground: a calibrated pinch roller, a vacuum pump, an air manifold, drill, mixing bit, scale and an inflation compressor. The roller sets the thickness you need to an even level throughout the liner ensuring you meet the thickness standard required for the pipe you’re lining. The vacuum pump removes any entrained air in the liner as it’s being impregnated with resin. Those two components are needed to get liner in the ground. For easy jobs that – and the consumables needed like liner tube, resin, calibration tube, and rope – are all that you’d need. Assembly of the materials and pulling the liner into place after the impregnation process is coupled with expanding the liner with the air manifold and compressor. This is a pretty easy job to perform on a straight sewer pipe with both ends of the pipe open and less than 25’ in length. This can be accomplished for less than $7,000.
1/4″ drill
Because all jobs don’t fit this profile, other things need to be added. If continuing to use this pull in place method up to 50’ or 60’ with turns and bends, you may need a pulling winch, and more sophisticated safety equipment. You may need permits to open manholes in the street to set up pulling up the material from the insertion point to the sewer main in the street.
If you don’t have the luxury of opening manholes and pulling permits for working in the street including traffic control, inversion equipment comes into your vocabulary. Now the questions come up as to how many of these types of jobs you expect to do. In a division of your core business, does a separate vehicle to house equipment and materials make sense – or would it be better to store the equipment in your shop for use as you need it? What are the longest jobs you are willing to tackle? What is the largest diameter pipe are you willing to rehabilitate? What trade area will you serve – how far out will you go for performing this work?
Here’s where things get interesting. You can line 2” through 8” up to 600’ with an investment of less than $30,000, although other tools such as lateral reinstatement tools, coating equipment, drain cleaning equipment, camera equipment, and vehicles can get you easily up to and over $150,000.
To learn more contact us at 888-354-6464 or 714-630-6311. You can email us at info@pipeliningsupply.com.
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