Trenchless technology is an important new trend in construction and engineering; trenchless plumbing is used for many water and sewer line repairs. In the past, plumbing and sewer construction and repair required disruption of surface structures and landscaping, often causing great inconvenience and mess. Traditional sewer and pipe repair can also be costly. With trenchless plumbing, that is no longer the case.

Trenchless plumbing has been around for approximately a decade and has developed into a popular home repair option. It takes different forms, such as pipe-bursting, mechanical spot repair, and cured-in-place pipe or CIPP. These are done with very little excavation, although some small holes are needed. Pipe bursting is a method that, using hydraulics, pulls a large cone shaped object through the old pipe and breaks it apart, simultaneously pulling a new, seamless pipe into its place. CIPP is one of the most popular methods of trenchless sewer repair; with this method, a flexible pipe liner is inserted into the damaged pipe, and then inflated. Depending on the size of the pipe and other factors, CIPP may take from one to 30 hours to complete. Most CIPP systems are guaranteed up to 50 years of use.

Many homeowners do not realize that they have the option of trenchless repair. In fact, a recent survey on Angie?s List revealed that 78% of homeowners have never heard of ?no dig? technology. Around 3% of those say that pipe replacement or sewer repair is an upcoming project.

Although you may not be aware of your need for plumbing repair, consider this: if your sewer is more than 40 years old, it likely needs replacing. Even if the plumbing within your home is new, it may be connected to an older system. At first, you may only notice small leaks or drips, but these add up. For example, more than 500 gallons of water can be wasted in one year simply from an old showerhead leaking at 10 drips per minute. In fact, the little leaks of an average household can add up to over 10,000 gallons of water annually?an expensive problem. But homeowners can save about 10% each year on water bills just by fixing these little leaks.

If further repair is needed, consider a sewer repair contractor that uses trenchless technology.