When an underground drain cracks, collapses or fills with roots, homeowners brace for the worst: a trench through the garden or driveway. But digging is not always necessary — here is how trenchless relining compares to replacement.
What relining is
Pipe relining inserts a resin liner into the damaged drain and cures it in place, forming a smooth new pipe inside the old one — without excavating the whole run. It is ideal for cracked, root-damaged or leaking pipes running under paving, driveways, walls or established gardens, where digging would mean tearing up everything above.
Cost: it depends on access
Where a damaged pipe sits under hard-to-reach or expensive-to-reinstate surfaces, relining is often cheaper overall once you count the cost of excavating and rebuilding the paving, driveway or garden on top. For a shallow, easily-accessed pipe, traditional dig-and-replace can be cheaper. Access is the deciding factor.
When you must replace
Severely collapsed pipes, badly misaligned joints, or pipes too degraded to hold a liner need replacement. There is no point relining a pipe that cannot support the liner.
The camera decides
We push a CCTV drain camera through to see the exact fault and location, then advise honestly whether relining works or replacement is the only option — no guesswork, no unnecessary digging. See main sewer line repairs or book an inspection.