Sewer line replacement in Indianapolis

When the whole line has to go

Three findings on the camera mean replacement rather than repair:

1. Orangeburg. Bituminized fiber pipe from roughly 1948 to 1972, common in the postwar subdivisions from Eagledale to Beech Grove and in Greenwood and Lawrence. Once it starts to deform it deforms everywhere, and it can't hold a liner. Orangeburg pipe replacement Indianapolis-wide is the one job where we never suggest waiting.
2. Clay with multiple failed joints. One offset joint is a spot repair. Four is a pipe that has moved along its whole length, and the ones that still look fine are next.
3. A long belly or a reverse slope. A sag that holds standing water can't be lined (the liner just follows the sag) and can't be spot-repaired if it runs 20 feet. It has to be re-laid on grade.

Cast iron sewer pipe replacement Indianapolis homes need is usually the first 10–20 feet — the section from the basement wall out — where the bottom of the pipe has rusted through. That can be replaced on its own and joined to a lined or sound clay run beyond it. Descaling cast iron covers when it can be saved instead.

Open trench, step by step

Locate and permit. We scope the line, mark the route and depth on the lawn, call Indiana 811, and pull the Citizens Energy Group permit. Since 1 January 2026 the lateral work has to be done by a Citizens-bonded contractor and the tap inspected, so this is not optional and we don't treat it as one.

Excavate. A trench from the foundation wall to the main, typically four to six feet deep at the house and eight to twelve at the street. Marion County soil is glacial till — clay loam with cobbles — which digs cleanly but needs shoring past five feet. Spoil goes on plywood, not on your grass.

Lay the new pipe. SDR-35 PVC on a bed of stone at a quarter-inch per foot of fall, with a two-way cleanout at the house end. If you never had a cleanout — most pre-1960 houses here don't — you get one, and it makes every future camera run and jetting cheaper.

Connect at the main. A new saddle or a rebuilt tap to the Citizens main, inspected before it is buried.

Backfill and restore. Backfill in compacted lifts so the trench doesn't sink next spring, topsoil and seed on lawn, and any cut concrete or asphalt replaced. Year one after a replacement explains what settling to expect and what is normal.

What it costs

Open-trench replacement in Indianapolis runs $4,000–$15,000. A 40-foot run in a lawn at five feet is at the bottom. A 90-foot run that crosses a driveway, a sidewalk and a street lane at ten feet, with a pavement cut and traffic control, is at the top. The sewer line replacement cost Indianapolis table breaks it into line items. If the trench would have to run under a mature tree, a patio or a neighbor's drive, trenchless at $6,000–$20,000 usually ends up cheaper once you count the restoration.

Sewer lateral replacement and the combined sewer

If your house is in the combined-sewer part of town, a replacement is the right time to add a backwater valve at the house end. It is a few hundred dollars more while the trench is open and $1,500–$4,000 as a separate job later. It won't fix a broken lateral, but it stops the surcharge from a July storm coming up the floor drain. Sewer lateral replacement Indianapolis contractors who don't mention this on an old-side-of-town house are leaving a known problem in place.

Water line at the same time

The water service on a 1940s house is often galvanized steel or lead-jointed, and it usually runs within a few feet of the sewer. If it is due, doing both in one trench saves most of the second excavation. We will tell you what we see and price it as an option, not a requirement.

Neighborhoods where we replace the most lines

Eagledale, Speedway and the west-side postwar grids; Beech Grove, Garfield Park and the south side to Greenwood; Lawrence and the ranches east of Shadeland; Home Place and Old Town in Carmel. The older clay north of 38th Street is more often a lining job because of the trees.