Plumber Delaware County | Drain & Sewer
Sewer and Drain Service in Gladwyne, PA
Gladwyne is an unincorporated community in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, known for large stone estates, mature tree coverage, and housing stock that in many cases dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. Those older homes carry old plumbing: cast-iron drain stacks, vitrified clay tile sewer laterals that have been in the ground for 80 to 100 years, and infrastructure that in many cases has never been inspected since the house was originally built. Advanced Drains and Underground Solutions serves Gladwyne and all of Lower Merion Township for sewer camera inspections, drain cleaning, trenchless pipe lining, and sewer line replacement.
What Age Means for Gladwyne Sewer Lines
A lateral installed in the 1930s or 1940s was built to the standards and materials of its time. Vitrified clay tile — the dominant lateral material in the Main Line’s older housing stock — was the right product for its era: dense, smooth, and chemically resistant. The challenge is the joints. Clay tile pipe was installed in sections, each section connected with a bell-and-spigot joint sealed with lead or mortar. After 70 to 90 years, those joint seals have weathered and opened. Roots find the gaps and enter the pipe, growing from thread-thin filaments into dense masses that fill the pipe and eventually stop it entirely.
On a large Gladwyne lot, the lateral may run 80 to 150 feet or more — through a yard, under a stone walkway, near the root systems of mature oaks and elms that line the property. That distance multiplies the number of joints that can fail. A camera inspection is the only way to know the actual condition along the full run rather than guessing from a symptom at the house end.
Lower Merion Township Sewer Responsibility
Lower Merion Township maintains its own sewer infrastructure, separate from the DELCORA system that serves most of Delaware County. The homeowner in Lower Merion is responsible for the sewer lateral from the foundation of the house to the tie-in at the township main. Lower Merion requires permits for lateral work in or near the public right-of-way, and any work close to the main connection involves coordination with the township’s public works department. We handle the permit process as part of the project.
Services We Provide in Gladwyne
- Sewer camera inspection with video, pipe locating, and depth measurement
- Hydro jetting for root intrusion and scale buildup in clay tile and cast-iron pipe
- CIPP UV trenchless pipe lining — restores the lateral from inside without digging
- Trenchless pipe bursting for full lateral replacement on heavily deteriorated lines
- Emergency sewer backup response, seven days a week
- Drain cleaning for kitchen, bathroom, floor drain, and laundry lines
- Sewer line locating and path tracing on large, complex lots
Trenchless Repair on Estate Properties
On a Gladwyne estate property, digging a traditional open trench for a lateral replacement means removing mature landscaping, breaking stone walkways, and operating heavy equipment on grounds that may have significant ornamental value. Trenchless methods avoid most of that disruption. CIPP UV lining installs a new structural liner inside the existing clay tile pipe through an existing cleanout, without excavating along the pipe run. Pipe bursting — for laterals too deteriorated to line — draws new pipe through the old path using the deteriorated pipe as the channel, fracturing it outward as the new line follows through.
Both methods require access at the two ends of the repair section but leave the ground between those access points undisturbed. For properties with extensive landscaping, long lateral runs, or limited equipment access, trenchless is typically the better option technically as well as practically.
Frequently Asked Questions — Gladwyne Sewer Service
My home is 90 years old and has never had a sewer camera inspection. Is that unusual?
No. Many of the older homes in Gladwyne and the surrounding Main Line communities have never had a camera inspection. The pipe may be functional, or it may have significant root damage that has not yet caused a noticeable backup — root masses restrict flow gradually before stopping it completely. A camera inspection establishes the baseline: what material is down there, what condition the joints are in, and whether there is an emerging problem that can be addressed before it becomes an emergency.
Will a trenchless liner hold in 100-year-old clay tile pipe?
CIPP lining creates a new structural pipe inside the existing one — the cured liner is self-supporting and independent of the host pipe’s strength once installed. The host pipe provides the form during installation; after curing, the liner holds its own. Old clay tile with open joints is a typical lining candidate as long as the pipe still has a round cross-section without collapsed sections. We confirm that condition with the pre-lining camera inspection before committing to the approach.
How long does a Gladwyne lateral repair typically take?
A camera inspection runs one to two hours for a standard single-family lateral, including locating and depth checks along the run. A CIPP lining job on a typical residential lateral takes most of a day — setup, liner pull, UV cure time, and post-cure camera check. Pipe bursting is a similar time frame. In most cases, the sewer is back in service the same day the repair is completed.
To schedule a camera inspection or emergency service in Gladwyne, call 610-803-6851 or text 1-855-DONT-DIG. We serve all of Lower Merion Township and respond seven days a week.