No-dig pipe relining
across Ashfield

A resin-soaked liner is drawn through the existing drain, inflated so it presses against the pipe wall along the whole length, then cured until it hardens. What results is a continuous pipe formed inside the old one with no joints along the lined section. Joints are where roots enter and where corrosion opens gaps, so removing them is the point. The old pipe stays put and becomes the mould, so nothing has to be dug up.

Usually not, and this is the most useful thing about lining for a small block. It can be done in sections. The worst run this financial year, the next one after the following budget, with each stage a complete piece of work rather than half a job left open. Excavation does not divide that way: once a trench is open it has to be finished. A committee that cannot approve $7,000 can often approve $2,500 twice, and nobody offers them that because it takes longer to write up.

That is exactly the right question and it should be in every quote you receive. Deferring has a price: continued clearing at the current frequency, the risk of a failure becoming an emergency at emergency rates, and the chance that a section deteriorates past the point where lining is possible at all, which turns a reline into an excavation. We put those figures in writing so deferring stays a legitimate option, chosen with the numbers visible.

Usually, and it is most of what we line here. What rules it out is a section that has genuinely collapsed or been crushed, or one so far gone there is nothing left to form a liner against. The camera settles that before anyone quotes and the footage is handed over. If lining will not work we say so rather than selling one that fails.

A sectional patch takes hours; a full run is generally most of a working day, and you get the window in advance so it can go on the noticeboard. It goes in through existing access points, so no common area is excavated and nobody loses a courtyard for a week. In a building with no lift and shared access, that difference matters more than it does in a house.

A shared line is generally common property, so it is the owners corporation's decision and its cost, not the individual owner's who happens to have the blocked toilet. In a self-managed block that means the committee needs a written scope, a figure, staging options and the cost of doing nothing. We provide all four as part of the inspection, because a verbal opinion cannot be voted on.

A sectional patch over one failed joint is about $900 to $2,200. A full run is usually $3,500 to $7,000 depending on length, diameter and bends. A camera inspection is $250 to $450, credited against the reline if you proceed. Staged options and the cost of deferring are included in the written scope at no extra charge.