Clearing a blocked sewer buys you a season. If the line underneath is cracked, offset or full of roots, the blockage is a calendar entry — it will be back.
Or speak to a relining specialist now — (03) 9059 2707A Melbourne sewer line is usually the oldest thing on the property. In anything built before the 1970s it is short lengths of terracotta mortared together, laid on ground that swells in winter and shrinks in summer. Every one of those joints is a hinge, and every hinge eventually opens.
Once it opens, two things happen. Roots follow the moisture in, and wastewater leaks out. The first blocks the pipe. The second quietly washes away the bedding under it, which is how a cracked joint becomes a dropped joint and then a collapse. Relining ends both at once.
Not sure which of our services you need? Start with a CCTV drain inspection — it is free with any quote and it decides everything else.
A high-resolution camera goes down the line so we can measure the damage, find the depth and confirm relining is actually the right call. Thirty to ninety minutes. You keep the footage whether you book the work or not.
Roots, scale and debris are cut back with a high-pressure jetter until the inside wall is bare. A liner can only bond to a clean pipe, so this step is not optional and it is where cheap operators cut corners.
A felt liner saturated in epoxy resin is pulled through, inflated hard against the wall and cured in place. Junctions are reinstated with a cutter. Nothing is excavated and nothing is cut.
A second inspection confirms a continuous, joint-free liner from end to end. You get the before and after footage, a written report and the 50-year liner warranty paperwork.
| Criterion | Pipe relining | Dig and replace |
|---|---|---|
| Time on site | 1–2 days | 3–5 days, often longer |
| Your driveway | Untouched | Cut, removed, re-poured |
| Garden and paving | Untouched | Excavated and reinstated |
| Root re-entry | Sealed permanently | Returns at the new joints |
| Reinstatement cost | None | Concreting, paving, landscaping |
| Council permits | Rarely needed | Often needed for crossings |
| Warranty | 50 years on the liner | Workmanship only |
Honest caveat: if a pipe has fully collapsed there is nothing left to line against, and we will tell you to dig. The camera decides, not the quote.
Still deciding? We wrote a longer breakdown in pipe relining versus pipe replacement.
Three depots — Oakleigh, Essendon and Ivanhoe — covering 130+ Melbourne suburbs. These are the ones we are in most weeks.
You cannot tell from the surface, and neither can a plumber with an eel. A blockage that clears and stays clear was a blockage. A blockage that returns within a year is a broken pipe with a blockage on top of it. The camera settles it in half an hour.
In almost every case, yes. As long as the pipe still holds its shape we can line it from an existing access point. Only a genuine collapse — where the wall has caved in — forces excavation, and then only of that section.
Inside your boundary it is yours, including the boundary trap in most cases. Beyond that it becomes the water authority's. We camera the line to the boundary so you know exactly which side of it your problem sits on before you spend anything.
Policies vary and most exclude gradual deterioration, which is what a failing clay line is. Where there is sudden damage — subsidence, a tree uprooting, a vehicle load — the footage and report we give you is what the assessor will ask for.
Whatever the camera says. If the damage is confined to a four-metre stretch we line four metres. If a thirty-year-old run has fractures at five separate joints, lining the whole run costs less than returning three times.
Yes. Lines under a slab or a suspended floor are the clearest case for relining, because the alternative is cutting the floor, repairing the pipe, and then repairing the floor.
A liner follows the existing grade, so it will not fix a pipe that runs uphill. If the camera shows genuine back-fall we will tell you, and that section needs re-laying. We would rather lose the job than sell you a liner that will not work.
Regularly. Shared lines under a block of units are exactly where excavation is least welcome. We can quote per run, supply footage for the committee, and stage the work so no unit is without drainage overnight.
Tell us what the drain is doing and we will book a CCTV inspection, usually same day. No charge, no obligation, and you keep the footage either way.