How to Fix Ageing or Damaged Pipes Without Digging

In many industries, replacing ageing or damaged products is straightforward. However, when it comes to water systems, waste pipes, and critical infrastructure, replacing a broken pipe isn’t always the best solution. The process is costly, disruptive, and time-consuming.

An alternative to traditional pipe replacement is pipe rehabilitation, a method that allows damaged pipes to be repaired and restored without the need for excavation. Let’s explore how pipe rehabilitation works, its key benefits, and why it’s a more efficient option for infrastructure repairs.

What is Pipe Rehabilitation and What Does it Involve?

Pipe rehabilitation uses a product called CIPP liners, which are fed into the damaged pipe, activated, and then used to create a new layer on the inside of the pipe.

Crafted from a unique felt material embedded with resin, these liners are flexible before activation but ultimately set and form an impenetrable new wall for the pipe, keeping the high-pressure water and flow of waste in and external forces out.

The main advantage of the process and the liners used is that pipes can be restored to full use rather than replaced. When it comes to the benefits of restoring pipes, it’s important to note the environmental, financial, and timely attributes of such processes.

The Benefits of CIPP Pipe Rehabilitation

When a waste or water pipe becomes damaged, leaks can very quickly wreak havoc on a local area.

Because of this, having an efficient solution is integral. And if you consider the work involved in digging up and replacing a pipe, you can soon see how challenging the traditional process of pipe replacement is.

Because CIPP liners can be fed into the pipe where it stands, neither digging nor excavation and removal work is required. This means that the pipe can be restored and rehabilitated in place, without the need for bringing in equipment or personnel to break ground.

The cost and time savings of this are huge, as are the environmental benefits.

By bypassing the need for excavation, habitats are protected and preserved, and the damage caused by leaking pipes and flooding is widely alleviated. The liners themselves are also constructed using a high percentage of recycled materials, with up to 90% of waste produced during manufacturing being recycled.

All of these benefits come wrapped up in a solution which is also incredibly effective and long-lasting. Pipes which are rehabilitated and brought back to life using CIPP liners can withstand decades of use, as evidenced by the first ever pipe to be restored using Insituform liners, which is still in full use more than 50 years later.

What to Do to Benefit from CIPP Liner Solutions

At Insituform, we know we produce the best and most reliable products for local engineers and councils. We also know that nobody knows our liners as well as we do, which is why we offer training to engineers who want to become CIPP lining specialists, demonstrating how to maximise results and efficiencies while minimising the extent of damage caused by a damaged pipe.

In the age of modern technology and trenchless rehabilitation solutions, digging is no longer a necessity. Instead, engineers can use CIPP liners, which are fed into a damaged pipe and activated above ground, creating a sustainable and efficient solution with a fraction of the work, cost, and damage.

To find out more about Insituform’s CIPP solutions, and to discuss the exact placement and use of liners in damaged pipes, get in touch with the team today.