Pipe Bursting in Brimfield

Brimfield's homes and the pipe they were built with

Brimfield Township sits between Kent and Tallmadge, and its growth followed the roads. The ranches and split-levels along Tallmadge Road, Mogadore Road and the side streets off Route 43 were built in the 1950s and 1960s, the small historic center at Brimfield Center holds older farmhouses and village homes, and the subdivisions toward Kent and along the I-76 corridor came in the 1980s and 1990s. Public sewer serves the denser areas and the commercial strip near the interchange, while outlying parcels remain on septic.

The 1950s and 1960s homes are the ones that generate most of the sewer calls. Their laterals may be vitrified clay in jointed lengths, Orangeburg fiber pipe or asbestos-cement, with cast iron through the foundation wall on basement homes. Houses from the late 1970s onward have PVC laterals, which have fewer joints and fewer problems but still settle in wet ground.

Clay till, frost and the trees of a 1960s street

The soil across Brimfield is glacial till with a heavy clay fraction, gently rolling but slow to drain. Lateral trenches dug sixty years ago still fill with water every spring, and in a hard winter the frost line reaches three feet. Saturated clay heaves when it freezes, lifting jointed pipe unevenly and softening Orangeburg until it ovals and blisters inward. Over decades the lateral ends up with offset joints and bellies that hold water and solids.

The silver maples and pin oaks planted when the subdivisions were new are now full-sized, and willows grow along the drainage ditches and the small creeks that drain toward the Cuyahoga. Their roots follow the moisture leaking from clay joints and Orangeburg seams. A camera run in an older Brimfield lateral typically shows root curtains every few feet, with grease and wipes caught on them, and groundwater trickling in at opened joints in the spring.

Which trenchless method suits a Brimfield lateral

A camera inspection and a locate always come first. If the clay or Orangeburg is cracked, rooted and leaking but still round, cured-in-place pipe lining is the usual recommendation. The crew cuts roots, hydro jets the pipe to bare wall, then inverts or pulls an epoxy-saturated felt liner through the run and cures it with hot water, steam or UV light. The liner is a structural, jointless pipe that holds its shape even as the Orangeburg around it keeps deteriorating.

When the camera cannot pass a flattened or collapsed section, pipe bursting replaces the run. A pit near the foundation and a pit near the main let a bursting head split the old pipe while fused HDPE is pulled into place. A single failed joint on an otherwise sound lateral can be handled with a sectional point repair, a short liner cured over that one spot, instead of lining the whole run.

County permits, the right-of-way and inspection

Because Brimfield's sewers belong to the county system, the permit and inspection come from the Portage County water resources department. A pit in a township road requires a right-of-way permit from the township trustees, a county road involves the county engineer, and Route 43 or Tallmadge Road where it is a state route involves the state transportation department. Septic properties go through the county health district. Bursting pits are inspected open; lining jobs are verified by the post-cure camera video.

The day of the job and how to pick a crew

Expect a truck and trailer at the curb, water off for several hours, and a crew at the cleanout or a small pit by the house. Lining is normally done by late afternoon; bursting may need a second day for restoration. Before signing, ask for the camera video, a written method and the product name of the liner or pipe, and ask how the crew will seal the liner where it meets cast iron at the foundation. To compare installers, find a verified CIPP contractor and favor crews that have handled Orangeburg in Portage County clay, since that material is the defining Brimfield problem.

Pipe Bursting in Brimfield

How pipe bursting works

A steel cable is threaded through the old sewer line from a pit at one end to a pit at the other. A cone-shaped bursting head, with new high-density polyethylene pipe fused to it, is pulled through by a hydraulic unit. The head splits the old clay or cast iron outward into the soil and the new pipe follows in the same alignment at the same depth. The result is a single fused length of pipe with no joints for roots to find.

When bursting is the right call

• Collapsed sections — a liner needs a host pipe to hold its shape; a collapsed run has none.
• Bellies — a low spot that holds water stays a low spot after lining. Bursting lays new pipe on a fresh bed.
• Undersized lines — bursting can upsize a 3-inch lateral to 4 inches; lining slightly reduces diameter.
• Badly deformed pipe — Orangeburg that has flattened, or cast iron with most of its bottom gone.

What the job looks like

One pit at the house or cleanout, one at the property line or the street connection, each a few feet square. Utilities that cross within a foot or two of the sewer path are located and potholed first. The pull takes an hour or two; the whole job, including fusing, connections, inspection and backfill, is usually one day.

Permits and the street

If the downstream pit is in the sidewalk, parkway or street, a right-of-way permit and restoration to city standards are required in addition to the plumbing permit. If the connection at the main is replaced, the city inspects it before the pit closes. Confirm who is handling this before work starts.

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