Sewer line repair in San Jose

Why San Jose sewer lines fail the way they do

Most of the houses we work on were built between 1950 and 1975, when the orchards in Willow Glen, Cambrian Park, Blossom Valley and Santa Clara were being turned into ranch homes and Eichler tracts. The lateral under those houses is almost always one of three things: vitrified clay pipe in short sections with mortared joints, cast iron that has spent sixty years rusting from the inside, or Orangeburg — tar-impregnated wood fiber that was sold as pipe until the early 1970s and is now soft enough to cut with a knife.

Clay is the big one. It doesn't rot, but every joint is a gap, and the coast redwoods and live oaks that were planted as saplings when the tract went in are now fifty feet tall and thirsty. Six months without rain sends roots straight to the one wet spot in the yard. Add the earthquakes — Loma Prieta in 1989 and the steady small ones off the Hayward and Calaveras faults — and a joint that was slightly open in 1980 is offset by an inch today.

Eichlers and other slab homes in the Fairglen tract and along the Los Gatos border carry a second problem: the cast iron drains run under the slab, next to the radiant-heat tubing. When they fail you can't just dig a trench in the yard.

What we actually do

Sewer line repair — the spot fix. One collapsed section, one root-packed joint, one belly at the property line. We cut out the bad length and replace it, usually for $1,500–$4,000, when the rest of the line is worth keeping. Sewer pipe repair San Jose homeowners call about most is covered on the repair page.

Sewer line replacement — when the camera shows problems every few feet, replacing the whole run is cheaper than three spot repairs over five years. Open-trench where the line is shallow and in the yard; trenchless almost everywhere else. See sewer line replacement.

Trenchless repair — cured-in-place lining and pipe bursting. Two access pits instead of a trench across the lawn, the driveway and the city sidewalk. In San Jose it's the default, not the upgrade, because Bay Area labor and Public Works permit costs make open-trench work in the street brutally expensive. The trenchless page explains which method fits which pipe.

Camera inspection — $250–$500, and the only honest way to quote sewer work. You get the recording. See sewer camera inspection.

Hydro jetting and drain cleaning — clearing roots and grease at 3,500 psi so the camera can see the pipe wall, and as a maintenance step for lines that aren't ready for replacement yet. See hydro jetting.

Where we work

All of San Jose — Willow Glen, Rose Garden, Naglee Park, Cambrian, Almaden, Blossom Valley, Berryessa, Alum Rock and Evergreen — plus Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Campbell, Cupertino, Milpitas, Mountain View, Morgan Hill and the hill towns. Los Gatos and Saratoga have their own pages because the lots there are big, the trees are bigger, and the laterals are long: Los Gatos and Saratoga. Area codes 408 and 669.

The lateral is yours, all the way to the main

In San Jose the property owner is responsible for the sewer lateral from the house to the connection at the city main, including the section under the sidewalk and street. The city maintains the main. That surprises a lot of people who assumed the part under the pavement belonged to someone else, and it changes the math on repair versus replacement — which is why the ownership post is the one we send people first. Work in the right-of-way needs a Public Works permit on top of the plumbing permit; we pull both.

What to do right now if it's backing up

Stop running water. Don't flush. If sewage is coming up in a tub or shower, that's the lowest fixture in the house and it means the main line is blocked, not that drain. Call us and say the word backup — that goes to the front of the day. If it's after a big storm and the neighbors have the same problem, the city main may be surcharged; call San Jose 311 as well. Sewer backup in San Jose walks through what the symptoms mean.