In our 40 year old neighborhood where we have lived for 10 years, we have noticed that, one by one, it seems our neighbors have a major sewer problem where they need major excavations in their yards. One neighbor suffered a 75' trenching through a driveway, brick sidewalk, mature flower bed and lawn. It ravaged his whole yard. Most other digs are somewhat smaller. I have been told that in the neighborhood, the ground generally has been sinking which breaks the pipes and many times the break is right at the concrete foundation and it just shears off. I do not know if the pipes are clay or iron. Under our house they are iron. We have spent many $$ landscaping and beautiful brick driveway and and fear the day when our pipe breaks and we need to dig up all our hard work and $$ to replace/ repair the pipe. At a home show we saw a service that takes a wet fiberglass epoxy mat and wraps it around an inflatable tubular bladder and they run it through your sewer pipe and inflate the bladder and then the epoxy cures into a tube coating the inside of your sewer. They quoted $3000 for a set up fee then $100 per foot for the service. We estimate that this would be cheaper than a major dig plus the associated re- landscaping. We thought this would be a savior if we ever have problems and we are considering having this done as a preventative step as we are having no problems with our sewer. The company is calling wanting to come out and TV our sewer....does anyone have any experience with the process and is it smart to do it if you are having no problems? Thanx!

I have a question about how to temporarily winterize my home for a week. I need to leave for a week vacation. I burn coal but I will turn the stove off during my vacation. I also have electric back up heat. I want to avoid using my electric heat.....in other words turn the t-stats off. My problem is the pipes freezing. I have a few questions. I have the ability to drain all of the water out of my copper pipes. I can also drain the water out of my water holding tank. I know some people are going to say that this is a lot to go through and why not just keep the electric heat on. The truth is that my house is small and it is quite easy to drain the entire thing. My question and fear is that will water in the traps freeze and break the pipes....what about the toilet tanks? I would turn off the breaker to the well.......so it would'nt call for water if something were to burst. Do I need to get the water out of the traps or will it not burst because it will first go to the point of least resistance......down or up. Chris