Trenchless Pipe Installation in Greenville

Trenchless pipe installation in Greenville works by boring a steered pilot hole between two small pits, reaming it to size and pulling the new pipe back through. Sloan Underground Construction runs each Greenville job in the same four steps, so the driveway, the lawn and the tree roots between the pits are left alone.

1. Free site visit. The crew comes to the Greenville address, looks at the ground and writes a line-item estimate.
2. Locate and plan. An SC811 locate request goes in, existing utilities are potholed (exposed by hand) where needed, and the bore path is planned around roots, trees, existing utilities and the landscape above, on a North Main or Augusta Road lot that often means an oak and a brick walk.
3. Bore, ream and pull. A horizontal directional drill steers the pilot bore from the entry pit to the exit pit, the hole is reamed to the pipe size, and the line is pulled through below grade in one continuous piece.
4. Restoration. The entry and exit pits are restored, the site is cleaned, and the crew walks the property with the owner before leaving.

The full walkthrough of each method, with the cost drivers, lives on the regional trenchless pipe installation page and in the cost and process guide. This page is about what the work looks like inside Greenville.

A water line in Greenville can be replaced without trenching: Sloan Underground Construction bores a new service from the meter to the house and abandons the old pipe. The new line is tied in at both ends, and the driveway, the lawn and the tree roots between the two pits are never opened.

In Greenville the reason for a replacement is usually age. A galvanized service line installed in the 1950s or 60s corrodes shut from the inside; the house loses pressure a little every year, then a pinhole opens and the water bill jumps. The tell is a soft green stripe across a dry front lawn in August, or a meter that keeps turning with every fixture off. Water leak detection can confirm it before anything is dug.

A recent job Sloan Underground posted to its Google profile was a Greenville water service replacement where the meter sat in the sidewalk, so a cut was needed there, followed by a 100-foot shot under the paved drive. Most Greenville residential water services are finished in a day. The same bore installs a brand-new service for an addition, a detached garage, a pool house, or a lot being split: see water line installation for new services and water line replacement for swaps. For what a replacement runs across the state, our South Carolina water line replacement cost guide breaks it down by length and material.

A gas line in Greenville can be installed or replaced without trenching by boring from the meter to the house or the appliance pad. Sloan Underground Construction coordinates the bore with the gas utility and permitting, and the utility inspects its own meter connection before the line goes into service.

Greenville homeowners call for three things: a new line to a generator, pool heater, outdoor kitchen, or detached shop; a natural gas line replacement where an older steel service is corroding; and a relocated service when a driveway or addition is going where the old line runs. All three go in trenchless, without a cut through the drive or the lawn.

The new gas line is pressure-tested before it goes into service, and existing lines along the path are located before the bore so the new run does not cross something it shouldn't. Scheduling with the utility for the meter-side connection is part of the job. The gas line installation page covers scope and pipe options, and the trenchless gas line replacement guide walks through what happens to the old line.

A sewer line in Greenville's older neighborhoods is repaired or replaced without digging by lining it, bursting it or boring a new lateral. Sloan Underground Construction chooses between the three after seeing the existing pipe, because the clay and cast iron under North Main and Augusta Road homes fail in different ways.

The sewer lateral under a North Main or Augusta Road home is usually the original one. Clay pipe cracks at the joints and lets roots in; cast iron scales until a camera can barely pass. Both sit under the driveway or the front walk, and often under a tree the neighborhood would notice losing. Digging a trench there is the expensive way to fix a pipe.

• Cured-in-place lining — a resin liner fed through the cleanout and cured into a new pipe inside the old one, for laterals that are cracked or root-intruded but still hold their shape.
• Pipe bursting — a bursting head splits the failed clay or iron line while pulling new jointless HDPE through the same path, for pipe that is past lining.
• New bored lateral — a fresh gravity line on grade from the house to the tap, for additions, new construction on infill lots, and homes leaving an old septic system.

A camera run comes first on every sewer job so the quote covers what the pipe actually needs. For how laterals fail across the region, read our Upstate trenchless sewer line guide.