The camera shows roots at nearly every joint. Will a liner keep them out?

The line is cleaned and descaled first, then the liner cures into one continuous, tight-fitting pipe, so the old joints are covered. Angi still names tree roots as one of the biggest threats to liners, since they can grow over or through them. And where roots have pulled a joint completely apart, the code bars lining that spot; it gets dug and repaired.

Does lining make my sewer pipe smaller?

A little. Bob Vila describes the result as a newer, slightly smaller pipe inside the old one. The code still treats it as the same nominal size and allows relining only on pipe 4 inches or larger. Ask the plumber what the finished liner wall thickness will be for your pipe size, and to show the cured liner on video.

Who checks the liner after it cures?

The city does, from video. Under the code Mobile uses, the relined pipe is flushed, flow-tested with water and filmed, and that video goes to the code official before the permit is closed. The permit holder also certifies in writing that the liner went in to the maker's instructions and the standards. If a MAWSS letter started the job, MAWSS can re-test the line too.

Why does the city want a video before the liner goes in?

To decide whether your pipe can be lined at all. The code official reviews that video before issuing the permit, and refuses lining where it shows wrong slope, missing pipe wall or complete separations. The code rules section below lists what the video has to record.

Cured-in-Place Pipe Lining in Mobile, AL

Lining cost: HomeGuide and HomeAdvisor put CIPP at $90 to $250 a foot; Angi's trenchless guide narrows sewer lining to $135 to $150 a foot.
Time: quicker than excavation by HomeGuide's account; its sewer jobs run 1 to 5 days overall.
Digging: HomeAdvisor says a liner needs only one excavation point.
Liner life: rated for up to 50 years, according to Angi.
Code fit: 4-inch pipe and larger, kept at the same nominal size, with no backgrade, missing pipe wall or fully separated joint on the video (2021 plumbing code, section 717).

Mobile Sewer Line Replacement passes your lining request to a plumber, free. Ask where the access point for the liner will go on your lot. The city reviews a video of the cleaned line before it issues a lining permit, so expect a camera visit first.

Cured-in-Place Pipe Lining Types for House Sewers

Lining leaves the old pipe in the ground and builds a new one inside it. A resin-soaked tube goes into the line, presses against the old wall and hardens into pipe. The differences between liners come down to how the tube gets in, how it cures and whether a tube is used at all.

Long resin-soaked felt liner tube laid out flat on a plastic sheet on a driveway, ready to be fed into a sewer line

Inverted Felt Liner (ASTM F1216)

This method turns the tube inside out into the pipe. ASTM F1216 describes a resin-impregnated flexible tube inverted into the old line by a column of water or by air pressure, for pipe from 2 to 108 inches across. Once cured, the standard says, the new pipe is continuous and tight-fitting. HomeGuide and HomeAdvisor put CIPP at $90 to $250 a foot.

Inflated liner tube visible inside an old clay sewer pipe at the open end of a small access pit

Pulled-in-Place Liner (ASTM F1743)

Here the resin tube is pulled into position first, then a calibration hose inverted inside it presses the tube against the old pipe. ASTM F1743 covers this method for pipe from 2 to 96 inches and lists sanitary sewers and building piping among its uses. The finished pipe has the same continuous, tight fit as an inverted liner. Ask which of the two methods the quote is based on.

Plain gray hoses running from a trailer-mounted water heater across a lawn into an open sewer cleanout beside a brick house

Hot Water, Steam or Light Cure

Both ASTM standards allow three ways to harden the resin: circulating hot water through the tube, feeding controlled steam into it, or a photoinitiated reaction, which means curing with light. The code requires the liner to go in to its maker's installation instructions, and the installer records the liner type, the amount installed and the installation conditions in a report for the code official.

Spray-On Resin Lining (Spin-Casting)

Some systems skip the tube. HomeGuide describes spin-casting as spraying a resin lining directly onto the inside of the old line instead of inserting a CIPP liner, and prices it at $80 to $250 a foot. Bob Vila's range for cured-in-place work, $80 to $250 a foot, sits in the same band. Whatever the product, the code says relining materials have to meet their applicable standards, and fold-and-form liners must meet ASTM F1504 or F1871.

Short liners that patch one bad section are a different job; see sewer line spot repair.

Gloved hands holding a sewer camera monitor showing a cracked clay pipe joint with roots, beside an open cleanout in a lawn

Why Mobile homeowners, landlords and businesses call Mobile Sewer Line Replacement

One licensed plumber gets the request, not a bidding list
No charge to you for the introduction
Ask to keep the camera video from before and after
Alabama plumbing licenses can be checked online

Pipe Lining Rules Under Mobile's Plumbing Code

Mobile adopted the 2021 International Plumbing Code, and its relining section sets the rules for a house sewer:

Size
Gravity drain pipe 4 inches and larger only, kept at the same nominal size.
Cleaning first
The pipe is descaled and cleaned, and water is flushed through before it's filmed. See sewer line hydro jetting.
Video with notes
The before-video records cleanout and fitting locations, approximate depth, and the footage at least every 25 feet.
Review before the permit
The code official decides from that video whether the pipe can take the proposed liner.
Where lining is refused
Backgrade or too little slope, pipe wall that has completely deteriorated, and complete separations such as from root invasion or poor support. Those sections are dug up and repaired with new pipe. See sewer line belly repair and collapsed sewer line repair.

Pipe that has lost its round shape is its own question; Orangeburg pipe replacement covers it.

Pipe Lining or Pipe Bursting for an Old Clay Line

Both keep the yard mostly intact, and the city checks both on video. They differ in what ends up in the ground:

Lining
keeps the old pipe as the outer shell. Bob Vila calls the result a newer, slightly smaller pipe inside the damaged one. The code allows it on pipe 4 inches and up.
Bursting
breaks the old pipe out and pulls in new HDPE at the same nominal size, on lines 6 inches or smaller. It needs brittle host pipe such as clay or cast iron. See pipe bursting.

For a sag, the code bars relining over backgrade or insufficient slope, and Angi says trenchless methods in general aren't suitable for improper sloping. The code also won't let a liner bridge a fully separated joint; those stretches get dug. Ask for a price on each method that fits your video, with the reasons for any method ruled out.

Pipe Liner Life and What to Keep After the Job

Angi says sewer liners are rated to last up to 50 years, and names tree roots, which can grow over or through a liner, as one of the biggest threats to it. Once the liner has cured, the code calls for the line to be flushed, flow-tested and filmed again, with that video sent to the code official before the permit is closed, plus written certification from the permit holder.

Ask for these, and keep them:

The before and after videos as files.
The liner standard and resin system named on the invoice.
The permit and the final approval.

MAWSS asks for the plumber's itemized invoice and the permit after a defect letter; sewer line repair lists the rest.