Trenchless methods
Sewer pipe bursting in Chicago: new pipe through the old path
When a Chicago lateral has collapsed or flattened so the camera cannot pass, lining is off the table and the choice is between a trench and pipe bursting. This page explains how bursting works through two small pits, when it is the right call, and what to expect from the crew.
Serving Chicago · Cook County
American Trenchless Technologies, Inc.
CIPP Verified installer. Camera inspection before any quote; permits and inspections handled. More about American Trenchless Technologies →
When the camera stops
Every bursting job in Chicago begins with a camera that could not finish its run. The lens pushes forward along clay tile until it meets a wall of soil where a segment has collapsed, or stops at a flattened band of Orangeburg, or jams at a joint where one segment has dropped two inches below the next. From that point on, nobody knows what the pipe looks like, and no liner can be installed past it. The property owner now has two choices: open a trench along the whole lateral, or pull a new pipe through the old one from two small pits.
How the pull works
A crew digs an entry pit at one end of the failed run and an exit pit at the other. A steel cable or rod string is fed through the old pipe from one pit to the other. A bursting head, shaped like a cone with cutting fins, is attached to the cable at the entry pit, and a string of fused high-density polyethylene pipe is attached behind it. A hydraulic unit at the exit pit pulls the cable, and the head fractures the clay or splits the Orangeburg outward into the soil while the new pipe follows it into the space just created. The pull on a residential lateral in Chicago takes an hour or two. The new pipe is then connected to the house drain at one pit and to the public main at the other, and both pits are backfilled.
What arrives in the ground
The polyethylene pipe is delivered in sticks that are heat-fused into one continuous length before the pull, so the finished lateral has no joints from the house to the main. It is flexible enough to follow the existing path, resists the chemical environment of a sewer, and is unaffected by the freeze-thaw movement of Cook County clay that opened the original joints. A fused polyethylene lateral is the closest thing to a permanent sewer pipe available to a Chicago property owner.
Soil, frost and the neighboring utilities
Bursting displaces soil, which is why the surrounding ground matters. The heavy clay around Chicago compresses well and absorbs the displacement of a one-size upsize without surface heave at normal lateral depths. In winter the frozen crust complicates the pits more than the pull; crews thaw the pit locations a day ahead and shore them against the saturated clay below. Water and gas services that cross near the lateral are located and, if close, exposed by hand before the pull so the head passes safely under them.
Pits, parkways and permits
The two pits are where bursting touches the surface, and their placement decides the permit load. On most suburban lots in Cook County both pits sit on private property: one at the foundation, one at the property line. The job then needs the plumbing permit only, pulled by the contractor holding state licensing. On a narrow city lot the exit pit may have to be in the parkway near the main, and that adds a right-of-way permit, a sidewalk or sod restoration, and a village inspection of the connection. Either way the lawn between the pits is not disturbed. Pit placement for your address is addressed in the scope described at pipe bursting from American Trenchless Technologies, Inc. in the Chicago area.
Bursting compared to lining and digging
Lining is less work and cheaper where it is possible, but it cannot pass a collapse. Digging reaches any defect but turns a Chicago yard into a construction site and brings the full right-of-way process when the trench reaches the street. Bursting sits between them: it replaces the pipe outright, needs two pits rather than a trench, and finishes in one to two days. It is also the only trenchless method that can increase capacity.
The closeout
A finished bursting job should leave you with a camera video of the new pipe from end to end, the permit sign-off, the pipe material and fusion records, and a written warranty on the pipe and the two connections. Installer qualifications are listed at the registry listing for American Trenchless Technologies, Inc. and the verification process is explained at the trenchless installer verification reference. American Trenchless Technologies, Inc. performs pipe bursting around Chicago; reach them at (815) 827-6647. Estimates are free. Call now.
Estimates are free. Call now: (815) 827-6647.
Other trenchless services in Chicago
Trenchless Sewer Repair Chicago
Repair or replace a failed sewer line with little or no excavation.
Sewer Pipe Lining (CIPP) Chicago
A resin-saturated liner cured in place forms a new, jointless pipe inside the old one.
Sectional Point Repair Chicago
A short liner fixes one bad spot and leaves the rest of a sound line alone.
Sewer Camera Inspection Chicago
See what is actually wrong before anyone quotes a fix.
Hydro Jetting Chicago
High-pressure water strips roots, grease and scale so the pipe can be inspected and lined.
Sewer Line Repair & Replacement Chicago
When a line cannot be lined: spot excavation or trenchless replacement, chosen from the footage.
Questions we hear about pipe bursting
Where do the two pits go on a typical Chicago lot?+
The entry pit is usually at the foundation wall where the lateral leaves the house, and the exit pit is near the property line or the public main. On a city lot the exit pit may fall in the parkway, which brings in a right-of-way permit. On larger suburban lots both pits often stay on private ground. Each pit is roughly four by six feet at the surface.
Does bursting let you install a larger pipe?+
Yes. Bursting commonly upsizes one diameter, for instance from four-inch clay to six-inch polyethylene, because the bursting head displaces soil outward. Upsizing is useful for a building that has added fixtures or for a lateral that was undersized to begin with. Larger upsizing is possible but depends on soil and the proximity of other utilities.
Will bursting damage my water line or gas service?+
Utilities are located before any pit is dug, and the bursting path is checked against them. The soil displacement from a one-size upsize extends a few inches around the pipe, so a utility crossing close above the lateral is exposed by hand and protected before the pull. Parallel utilities at a normal separation are not affected.
How does bursting handle Orangeburg?+
Well. Orangeburg splits easily, and the bursting head pushes the fiber fragments into the surrounding soil as the polyethylene is pulled through. It is the usual replacement for flattened Orangeburg in the 1950s subdivisions around Chicago, where a liner cannot pass. Clay tile fractures into shards that are likewise displaced outward.
How long is the house without sewer during bursting?+
The pull itself takes an hour or two once the pits are open and the pipe is fused. Sewer service is interrupted from the start of the pull until the new pipe is connected at both ends, usually the same day. Pit excavation and restoration add a day on either side. To schedule an inspection in Cook County, call (815) 827-6647. Estimates are free; call now.