Trenchless Pipe Bursting in Delaware County, PA

Trenchless Pipe Bursting in Springfield Township, PA

Advanced Drains and Underground Solutions performs pipe bursting in Springfield Township and the surrounding Delaware County communities. We use pipe bursting when a residential or commercial sewer lateral is too damaged to rehabilitate — when the camera shows sections that have collapsed, deformed beyond a cylindrical profile, or are made from Orangeburg fiber pipe that cannot support a cured-in-place liner.

Springfield Township’s housing stock was built largely between 1950 and 1968, which places a significant portion of its sewer laterals in the Orangeburg era. Orangeburg pipe — a tar-saturated wood-fiber product installed widely through the postwar building boom — has a design life of roughly 50 years. Most of it has now reached or exceeded that threshold. When Orangeburg deforms, it goes from a circular cross-section to an oval or kidney shape, and the deformation progressively worsens under soil pressure. A camera inspection shows the characteristic sagging, delaminated walls and the irregular geometry that makes lining impractical.

Clay tile laterals from Springfield Township’s earlier properties — those built in the 1920s through the 1940s along established roads near the township center — experience a different failure pattern: root intrusion at bell-and-spigot joints, joint separation as the pipe settles, and occasional section collapse in areas with high root pressure. When root damage or settling has caused multiple joint failures across a run, pipe bursting that replaces the full lateral is often more durable and cost-effective than lining individual sections.

How Pipe Bursting Works in This Area

In Springfield Township, sewer laterals typically run from the house to the street right-of-way, where they connect to a municipal main maintained by the township sewer authority. The homeowner is responsible for the full length of the private lateral. Before any work begins, we pull the records for your address to confirm the tap location and the lateral’s approximate path.

The actual bursting process requires two small access pits: one near the house entry point, usually at the foundation cleanout, and one at or near the tap end of the lateral. Between those two points, the old pipe is fractured outward by a hydraulic bursting head pulled through the run, while a new continuous HDPE pipe is pulled into place behind it. No trench is opened along the lateral’s path. The access pits are restored after the work is complete.

Pipe bursting is most effective on straight or gently curved runs. Springfield Township properties with multiple bends or offset connections may require a camera review of the full path before we can confirm a bursting approach is feasible. If the geometry makes bursting impractical, we discuss the alternatives — partial excavation or hybrid lining and bursting — before any work begins.

Inspection Before Repair

We do not recommend pipe bursting — or any lateral repair — without a camera inspection first. The camera confirms the pipe material, the location and extent of damage, the depth of the lateral, and whether any sections are already collapsed or have foreign objects lodged in them. The inspection report gives you documentation of the condition before the repair, which is useful for insurance claims and for resolving disputes about lateral ownership at shared connections.

For Springfield Township properties with twin or row-house construction, a camera inspection also identifies shared lateral segments. Shared laterals — where two properties drain to the same pipe before it connects to the main — require coordination with the adjoining property owner before bursting work affects the shared section.

Frequently Asked Questions

My lateral is only about 40 feet long — is pipe bursting worth it for a short run?

Yes, for the right failure mode. Pipe bursting on a short run still eliminates the failed pipe completely and replaces it with continuous HDPE. The savings on surface restoration — no long trench to repave or regrade — apply regardless of the pipe length. A short run with Orangeburg collapse is a good candidate; a short run with an isolated root intrusion at one joint might be better handled with spot repair or lining, depending on the pipe condition on either side.

Can I stay in my house during a pipe bursting repair?

In most cases, yes. The work is done outside the house, and the interior plumbing is temporarily offline during the bursting pull — typically a few hours. Water service is not interrupted unless there is an incidental connection near the work zone. We communicate the expected service interruption window at the start of the job.

Does the township need to be notified before you start?

Springfield Township requires a plumbing permit for lateral replacement work. We pull the permit before starting. The permit process establishes the scope of work and ensures the inspection record is on file with the municipality. For work at or near the municipal tap, we also coordinate with the township sewer authority to confirm tap condition and obtain any access authorization needed.

Schedule Your Inspection

If your sewer is backing up, you have slow drains throughout the house, or a camera inspection elsewhere has already identified a collapsed or Orangeburg lateral, call Advanced Drains at 1-855-DONT-DIG. We serve Springfield Township and all of Delaware County.