If a camera inspection has shown a cracked pipe, a pipe full of tree roots or a joint that keeps letting water out, the traditional repair was to dig a trench, cut out the damaged section and lay a new pipe. When that pipe runs under a concrete driveway, a paved courtyard, a pool surround or an established garden, digging it up means breaking and then rebuilding whatever sits on top of the pipe.
Pipe relining repairs the pipe from the inside instead. The Blocked Drain Guys reline drain, sewer and stormwater pipes for homes, strata buildings and businesses across Sydney and the Sutherland Shire, and our own team carries out every stage of the relining, from the first camera inspection to the final one.
What Pipe Relining Is and How It Repairs a Damaged Pipe
Pipe relining places a new liner inside the existing pipe. We use cured-in-place pipe relining, where a liner soaked in resin is fed into the damaged section, pressed against the inside wall of the old pipe and left to cure. Once it has cured, the liner forms a new pipe within the old one, and it seals the cracks, the leaking joints and the gaps that tree roots were using to get in.
Because the work happens inside the pipe, we reach it through an existing access point such as an inspection opening. In some cases we need to open a small access point, but it is nothing like the trench a dig-and-replace repair needs.
How We Reline a Pipe, Step by Step
- We put a CCTV camera through the pipe to find the damage, measure its length and confirm the pipe is suitable for relining.
- We clean the pipe with a high-pressure hydro jet to remove roots, grease and scale, so the liner can bond to a clean surface.
- We install the resin-soaked liner in the damaged section and let it cure inside the old pipe.
- We run the camera through the pipe again and show you the finished repair.
You see the damage before we start and the repair after we finish, so you know exactly what you have paid for.
Why We Do Our Own Pipe Relining Instead of Using Subcontractors
Many plumbing companies offer pipe relining but send a third-party relining contractor to install the liner. The Blocked Drain Guys carry out the relining ourselves, with our own team and our own equipment. The same people who inspect the pipe also clean it, install the liner and film the finished repair.
That matters in three ways. You have one team responsible for the whole repair and one phone number to call if you have a question later. Our advice on whether to reline or replace the pipe is based on what the camera shows, not on what is easiest to pass to another company. We also control our own schedule, rather than waiting for a subcontractor to have a free day.
When Pipe Relining Is the Right Repair
Relining suits a pipe that is damaged but still holds most of its shape. The problems relining repairs well are:
- Tree roots that have entered a pipe through its joints
- Cracked or fractured terracotta and clay pipes
- Leaking joints between pipe sections
- Recurring blockages caused by damage inside the pipe
- Damaged pipes that run under driveways, slabs, pools, paving or gardens
Relining works on most common pipe materials, including terracotta, clay, PVC, concrete and cast iron, as long as the pipe has not completely collapsed.
