A brand-new epoxy pipe built inside your old sewer line, with no trench across the yard. Cured-in-place pipe lining fixes cracks, roots, and corrosion from the inside out. Here is how it works, when it qualifies, and what it lasts.
Last updated: October 13, 2026
Cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) lining is a trenchless repair method that builds a new epoxy pipe inside an old sewer line, with no trench across the yard.
Lining is the right fix when your sewer line is damaged along a long run but the pipe still holds its basic shape. The camera is what confirms it, but these symptoms are the usual tip-off.
One caveat that matters: lining copies the shape of the pipe it goes into. If the camera shows the pipe is mostly intact with defects scattered along it, lining is usually the least disruptive and most economical answer. If it shows a crushed or flattened section, jump to the disqualifiers below, or read our trenchless sewer repair overview to compare lining with pipe bursting. If your home runs on a septic system rather than a city lateral, the U.S. EPA publishes homeowner guidance on septic and sewer systems explaining how the two differ.
Cured-in-place pipe lining builds a new pipe inside the old one. A flexible tube soaked in epoxy resin goes into the damaged line, gets pressed tight against the old pipe walls, and hardens into a smooth, jointless shell. No trench, no removed pipe, no yard torn apart. Here is the job in five steps.
A sewer camera inspection maps the full line: defects, distances, depths, pipe material, and diameter. Lining only starts when the footage shows the pipe holds its shape.
Hydro jetting and mechanical descaling strip out roots, grease, scale, and sludge. The liner has to bond to bare pipe wall, so this step is non-negotiable.
The resin-saturated liner is fed into the line through a cleanout or small access point, either inverted with air or water pressure or pulled into place, then inflated to press it against the old pipe.
Heat or UV light hardens the resin into a solid structural pipe. Cure method depends on the liner, the diameter, and the run length, explained below.
A post-install camera run proves the liner is continuous, fully cured, and flowing properly. You watch the footage with the technician before the job is signed off.
Curing is what turns a soft resin-soaked tube into a hard structural pipe, and it uses one of three methods: hot water, steam, or UV light. All three work; the choice depends on the liner material, the diameter, and the job conditions.
Whichever method we use, the cure is verified before we leave: the camera shows a hard, continuous surface, and branch connections that were lined over get reopened with a robotic cutter so every fixture in the house drains exactly as before.
Cure equipment controls the resin temperature from the surface, so Ohio winter weather never decides the outcome.
This is the question that decides everything, and it deserves a straight answer. Lining is a repair for a pipe that is damaged but still standing. It is not a resurrection for a pipe that has given up.
About half the lines we camera-inspect for lining turn out to be good candidates; the rest get an honest recommendation for bursting or excavation instead. The inspection footage is yours to keep either way, so you can see exactly why we recommended what we did.
The cured liner hugs the old pipe's interior, turning cracked clay tile into a smooth, jointless channel.
Here is how lining stacks up against the other two full-line options.
| Factor | Pipe lining (CIPP) | Pipe bursting | Traditional replacement |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it works | New epoxy pipe built inside the old one | Old pipe shattered; new HDPE pulled through | Old pipe dug out; new pipe laid in a trench |
| Pipe condition required | Pipe must roughly hold its shape | Handles collapsed or badly deformed pipe | Works on any condition |
| Digging required | Often none beyond an existing cleanout | Entry and exit pits | Full open trench |
| Pipe diameter | Slight decrease from liner thickness | Can increase (upsizing) | Any size, set to the correct grade |
| Typical timeline | Often one day | Often one day; larger pulls can take two | Typically two to five working days |
| Best suited for | Cracked, root-invaded, or corroded lines that hold their shape | Collapsed, deformed, or undersized lines | Wrong slope, a route that must change, or shallow simple digs |
Yes, slightly, and it almost never matters. The liner adds a few millimeters of wall thickness inside your pipe, so a 4-inch line becomes a little less than 4 inches inside. But the cured epoxy surface is dramatically slicker than rough clay tile or scaled cast iron, so wastewater moves through with less friction. In practice, flow capacity stays the same or improves, and we confirm it on the verification camera.
On lifespan: a properly installed CIPP liner is engineered for a 50-year design life, the standard design-life figure published across the CIPP industry. That number comes from the materials science: epoxy resin and felt or fiberglass composites tested for decades of underground service, not from marketing. The jointless design is the real advantage. Most sewer failures start at joints: roots slip in, soil washes out, sections shift. A liner has no joints, so those failure modes disappear along the lined run. It typically outlasts the original pipe it was installed inside.
What can shorten that life is poor prep. A liner installed over leftover roots, grease, or scale bonds badly and can wrinkle or delaminate. That is why the cleaning step gets as much time as the installation itself on our jobs, and why any lining plan that skips a thorough cleaning should make you nervous.
Straight talk: nobody can plan your lining job without seeing your line on camera, and anyone who does is guessing. But you deserve to know what moves the number before you call. These are the factors that set the plan of a CIPP job in Ohio:
One more rule worth knowing: work that affects stormwater or nearby waterways falls under federal discharge rules, and the EPA's NPDES program covers sewer discharge permits for those projects.
For realistic statewide ranges and a breakdown of when lining is simpler than digging, read our Ohio sewer repair guide. The only number that actually matters is yours: call (614) 350-5706 for a camera inspection and a fixed written plan.
A properly installed CIPP liner is engineered for a 50-year design life. The cured epoxy forms a smooth, jointless pipe inside the old one, so the separated joints and cracks that let roots and soil in are gone. It usually outlasts the original clay or cast iron pipe it rehabilitates.
Slightly, yes, and it rarely matters. The liner adds a few millimeters of wall thickness inside the pipe, so the inside diameter shrinks a little. But the cured epoxy surface is far slicker than rough old clay or scaled cast iron, so flow capacity usually stays the same or improves. We size every liner to your pipe's actual diameter and confirm the result on camera.
Yes, when the roots came through joints and cracks but the pipe still holds its shape. We cut the roots out with hydro jetting or a root-cutting head first, then the liner seals every entry point behind a seamless wall. Roots cannot grow through cured epoxy. If the roots have crushed or collapsed the pipe, lining is off the table and pipe bursting or excavation is the honest answer.
Clay tile, cast iron, PVC, ABS, and concrete pipe all take a liner well, as long as the pipe roughly holds its original shape. Orangeburg, the tar-paper pipe used from the 1950s to the 1970s, usually cannot be lined because it deforms and flattens over time. The camera inspection tells us which material you have and whether it qualifies.
Most residential CIPP jobs in Ohio finish in one day: inspect and clean in the morning, install and cure the liner, then run the verification camera before we leave. Larger or more complex lines can take a second day. You get a firm schedule in writing with your plan, and we pull the required permits before work starts.
Lining rarely travels alone. Start with our trenchless sewer repair overview to see how lining compares with bursting, or jump to pipe bursting if your line is too far gone to line. Every lining job begins with a sewer camera inspection, and most need hydro jetting first to give the liner a clean surface to bond to.
One camera inspection answers that question for good. Then you get a fixed written plan before any work starts.
Call (614) 350-5706