Trenchless Pipe Repair

Throughout history, many different materials have been used to make plumbing pipes, including wood, lead, clay, tar pitch, concrete, cast iron, copper, PVC, CPVC, and PEX.

The time required to repair plumbing pipes will vary depending on the extend of the damage and the material of the pipe. Your Roto-Rooter plumber can repair any water supply pipes or drain pipes, no matter if they are made of copper, PVC, CPVC, cast iron, clay, concrete, or PEX. Simple repairs to PEX may only take a few minutes to complete, whereas copper pipe repairs behind walls may require an hour or two. More serious repairs such as underground sewer pipe spot repair or replacement may require several hours to a couple of days.

There is no subsitute for having an experienced plumber repair a leaking water supply pipe. However, in a pinch there are several patch kits on the market, which plumbers view only as a temporary fix until the pipe can be properly repaired by a plumber. If you've ever seen a submarine warfare movie, you've probably seen sailors repair a leaking pipe using a redi-clamp patch. They make small ones for repairing household pipes too. There are several other tape-like patch kits you can buy, but they are even more temporary and should only be used until permanent repairs can be completed.

Leaking water supply pipes can be made of several different materials, including copper, CPVC, and PEX. Older structures even have cast iron pipes. Each material can be repaired, but the methods for doing so vary. However, in all of these materials, most plumbers cut out the bad, leaky section and replace it with a new section. Copper pipes can be rejoined by "sweating" sections together with a propane torch, solder, and a joiner piece. They can also be refitted with Sharkbite fittings, which eliminate the need for an open flame in a wall cavity. CPVC sections can be reconnected with special joiner fittings and pipe glue. An experienced Roto-Rooter plumber can fix leaking pipes no matter which material they're made from.