Sewer Line Repair in Broward County

A sewer repair starts with a diagnosis, because the range of possible causes is wide and the range of prices attached to them is wider. A slow drain can be lint on a rough pipe wall or a section of pipe that has lost its bottom, and no amount of describing the symptom over the phone separates the two.

How the work is sequenced

1. Clear the line if it is blocked. A camera cannot see through standing water or a root mat, so cabling or jetting comes first.
2. Camera-inspect and locate. The defect gets a distance from the cleanout and a depth marked on the surface.
3. Quote against the footage, itemised into excavation, materials, restoration and permits.
4. Repair — spot repair, lining, pipe bursting, or open-trench replacement, depending on what the footage allows.
5. Re-scope the finished work. On pipe bursting, Florida’s Building Code requires it: the completed section shall be inspected internally by video camera survey and approved by the code official.

What each repair type addresses

Defect on camera	Usual repair
Blockage, pipe sound	Cable or hydro jetting
Roots at a joint, pipe round	Jet, then seal the joint by lining or replace the section
Single crack, wall sound either side	Spot repair or sectional liner
Corroded and scaled, still round and graded	Full-length lining
Offset joint	Excavate and re-couple, or pipe bursting
Belly or back-pitch	Replacement — grade cannot be lined out
Channelled or collapsed cast iron	Replacement of the affected run

What goes back in the ground

Florida’s Building Code, Chapter 7, lists ABS, cast iron, copper or copper-alloy, PVC and PP as conforming materials for a building sewer on filled or unstable ground — the clause that applies across most of Broward’s sandy fill. PVC DWV is permitted in SDR26, SDR35, SDR41, PS50 or PS100, making SDR 35 an approved residential sanitary spec here. Pipe bursting requires HDPE, SDR 17, conforming to ASTM F714.

Why so much of this work is cast iron

The Cast Iron Soil Pipe Institute puts cast iron drain pipe at 50 to 75 years of service; in South Florida’s damp sandy fill the practical figure runs nearer 40 to 50. PVC became standard in Florida residential construction in the late 1970s, and roughly 35% of South Florida living units built in the 1960s and 1970s went in with cast iron. Broward’s stock sits squarely in that window — Hollywood’s median year built is 1969 and Fort Lauderdale’s 1972, per U.S. Census ACS 2024 five-year data.

“Every inspection is recorded and the homeowner keeps the file. A quote written against footage the customer holds has to stand up to a second opinion.”

To get a line scoped and quoted, request a free quote.