Mamba Drainage Services
Trenchless Sewer Repair Vancouver
Cracked sewer lateral. Roots growing through your clay tile. Repeat backups even after jetting. We fix Vancouver sewer lines without ripping up your driveway, your lawn or the boulevard.
CIPP epoxy lining, pipe bursting and spot relining. Permitted, City inspected, 25 year material warranty. Camera scope before every quote.
What trenchless actually means in Vancouver
Trenchless sewer repair is structural pipe restoration done through small access points, usually a 3 foot by 3 foot pit at your property cleanout, instead of trenching the entire length of the lateral. On a typical East Vancouver lateral running 60 feet from the house to the City main under Commercial Drive, open cut means tearing up your front yard, the sidewalk and half a boulevard tree. Trenchless cuts the disturbance to one pit at the house side and one at the City connection.
CIPP, cured in place pipe lining. A felt liner soaked in epoxy resin is inverted into the existing pipe under air pressure, then steam or UV cured. The liner bonds to the inside of the host pipe and becomes a new structural pipe inside the old one. It brings the pipe back to full diameter, losing only 1/8 inch, seals every crack and joint, and blocks future root intrusion.
Pipe bursting. A hydraulic head is pulled through the old pipe, splitting it outward into the surrounding soil while drawing new HDPE pipe behind it. This is the method when the existing pipe is too far gone for lining, meaning collapsed, severely offset or undersized. It needs slightly larger access pits than CIPP.
Spot relining, also called point repair. A short epoxy patch for a single offset, crack or joint failure under 4 feet long. Done through a cleanout with no excavation at all. It lasts as long as the pipe around it.
Vancouver permits all three under City of Vancouver Plumbing and Gas. The inspector signs off on the post cure or post burst camera footage.
When trenchless is the right call, and when it is not
Trenchless is the right call when
- The pipe is structurally damaged but the route is intact, no severe bellies and no collapsed sections over 20% of diameter
- You want to keep mature trees, hardscape or finished landscaping intact
- The City connection under the road is the failure point, because open cut there adds a road permit, traffic control and asphalt restoration
- The pipe size is adequate, 4 inch residential or 6 inch commercial, and only needs structural restoration
Trenchless is the wrong call when
- The pipe has bellied enough that camera water sits in standing pools 4 inches deep or more
- The pipe is undersized for current use, because lining shrinks diameter by 1/8 to 1/4 inch
- The pipe has fully collapsed, since lining needs a host pipe to invert into
- You are already doing foundation repair or a basement renovation where the lawn is coming up anyway
What Vancouver customers say
Ryan was great! My landlord called him to fix my blocked kitchen sink. He showed up the same day (on a Sunday) and fixed the problem. He even cleaned the sink and dried up all the water that had leaked before he got there. And he was very careful coming in and out of the house so my cat wouldn’t get out. I’d definitely recommend him.
Ryan is INCREDIBLE. He has been responding to all of us (four houses and families!) affected by a sewage back up. This is all on Boxing Day and beyond, in terrible weather full of ice, cold and rain. He is so knowledgeable, and knew what was needed right away. Just the top of his field I am sure. As well as that, he is incredibly calm, respectful, kind and fair. I am truly amazed by this person's capacity and competence in combination with his noble, calm presence in the face of a real mess. Thank you Ryan, so very much!
I had very positive experience with Mamba Services, Ryan was amazing to work with and took care of my drain issues in no time. He arrived on time, was very professional and efficient in carrying out the work. What impressed me was how honest he was in recommending needed repair. He was very patient in explaining the different options. I will certainly call them for future projects.
Had an excellent experience. Ryan was fantastic, it was an after hours call late in the evening and he showed up exactly in the time frame he gave. Took care of the kitchen sink issue within minutes all systems were running like new. Pricing was extremely reasonable, Ryan was patient and explained everything to me while fixing my problem. I would highly recommend this company for any plumbing work.
Ryan was efficient, experienced, and knowledgeable. He was able to squeeze me into his schedule with short notice and wasted no time with my appointment. He arrived on site inspected the issue, and was quickly at work with resolving the problem. I am very pleased with his service and honesty. He provided recommendations that will help assist me in future occurrences.
24/7 emergency dispatch
Keep the lawn. Fix the pipe.
Trenchless is not right for every lot. Call and describe what the line is doing and you will get a straight answer on whether lining, bursting or open cut is the honest fix for your property.
Trenchless sewer repair FAQ, Vancouver
The manufacturer rating is 50 years and the material warranty is 25. We have yet to see a properly installed CIPP liner fail in Vancouver, but the technology was only widely adopted here around 2008, so real world longevity past 18 years is still open. Open cut PVC sewer laterals from the 1990s are still running fine and CIPP creates a structurally similar pipe. The resin layer is what differs.
Sometimes. For a lateral entirely inside your property line, open cut is often cheaper than CIPP because the excavation is straightforward and the material is just PVC. For a lateral that crosses a sidewalk, boulevard, road or mature landscape, trenchless wins on total cost, because open cut adds traffic control, asphalt restoration and a landscape rebuild.
Yes. City of Vancouver Plumbing and Gas. Trenchless is plumbing work regardless of how you get at the pipe. We pull the permit under our licence and the City inspector signs off on the post cure camera footage.
No. Perimeter drains carry hundreds of perforations along their length, designed to take in groundwater. A CIPP liner would seal those perforations and defeat the whole point of the system. For perimeter failures see our perimeter drainage page.
A belly under 1 inch deep can be lined and the flow is acceptable afterward. A belly between 1 and 4 inches will show in the lined pipe but usually still flows. A belly over 4 inches deep means the line itself has settled and lining will not fix the flow, so open cut with re bedding is the right call. The camera scope tells us which one you have.
On a typical CIPP install you get one 3 by 3 foot pit at the house cleanout and one at the City connection. Sod comes off at the start and goes back at the end. The driveway is only affected if the lateral runs under it, which is uncommon, because most Vancouver laterals run alongside the driveway under the lawn. Pipe bursting pits are slightly larger at 4 by 4 feet.
Often. About 30% of the camera scopes we run end with open cut being the cheaper or more durable answer, and we say so. Trenchless is a tool, not a religion. We would rather lose the relining job than sell a fix that does not last.
Yes. Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster, Surrey and Delta. The trenchless equipment is in house, so there is no sub contractor in the middle of your job.
24/7 EMERGENCY DISPATCH
Water where it should not be?
Ryan picks up. Live dispatch, and you get a real arrival window on the call.