Best Septic System Repair in Pittsburgh PA

We had what we hoped was a minor leak.  Thanks to Express Plumbing's knowledge and expertise they discovered a crack in the pipe which extended up the inside wall and curved into the ceiling.  It was not easy to detect the extent and we feel fortunate it was their years of experience and knowledge that found the extent of the problem.    They were prompt in arriving onsite.   Upon arrival they wore footwear covering over their rather clean shoes I might add, although it was a dry day and I said you don't have to, they said, no, it's our protocol.    We totally trust them and would highly recommend them to you.  Price point was very reasonable for the several hour job from start to finish.  Friendly.  Professional.  Knowledgeable.   Trustworthy - and they explained what they are doing every step.   It was not an easy job too numerous reasons to explain.   Number one in our books and we will recommend to all in our community.  Thank you so much!

I called Mike at the recommendation of one of my neighbors who had used his services a few years earlier, and a Monroeville Public Works employee.  We were getting occasional backups of clean water from the floor drain in our laundry room.  After the latest backup after a heavy rainstorm, a Monroeville Public Works employee checked out the nearby manholes and confirmed that all of their sewer lines were flowing properly.  He theorized that groundwater was getting into cracks in the terra cotta drain lines at a greater volume than the root-infested drains could handle, which was causing the line to back up into my basement.  He recommended that I call Mike to have him check it out, especially because of Mike's trenchless line replacement capabilities (I have a nice, mature pinoak in my front yard that I didn't want to damage by digging up the whole front yard).  

Mike came out and ran a camera through all of the underground lines in the house, and got as far out to the street as he could.  He didn't charge me for the camera work (another plumber that I called wanted $200 to scope out the lines before giving me an estimate).  I looked over his shoulder to see what the camera was showing, and he was really patient, explaining everything to me along the way.  I was surprised at how generous he was with his time.  It was clear that there were many cracks in our drains, and just as many roots.  In some cases the roots were so bad that he couldn't get the camera through them.  His estimate was $5200 to install a cleanout and vent next to my house (none of the houses in my early-1960s neighborhood have cleanouts), and replace the sewer line from the house to the street using his trenchless pipe lining system.  He said the pipes inside the house were cracked and had a few roots, but they weren't bad enough to warrant digging up the concrete to replace them.

It seemed like a good price, but it was still a lot of money, so I got a second estimate a few days later.  Their estimate was $8000-$9000 (they wouldn't commit to an exact price because they weren't sure exactly how far they had to go to connect to the main sewer line).  They also recommended replacing all of the underground pipes in my basement for another $6000.  I called Mike and booked the job with him.  I asked him if he was sure that the pipes in the basement were still OK.  He said that he could replace them if I wanted him to, but he didn't think it was worth the money.

We booked a date about a month out.  I called a few days before the date to make sure that we were still on, and he said that everything was OK.  Two days before the job all of the utility companies came out to mark their underground lines.  The day of the job Mike and his assistant showed up promptly and began working.  The pipe lining technology was pretty cool, and everything went quickly that day; several neighbors even hung around to watch the process of shooting the liner into the old pipe.  Once the epoxy-coated fabric liner was fed through the old pipe, a balloon-like device was fed through the pipe and inflated from an air tank and air compressor to help keep the pipe in shape while the epoxy/fabric mix cured.  Since the temperatures got fairly cool that evening, the compressor had to remain connected overnight to maintain pressure inside the pipe in case the epoxy was curing more slowly than usual.  Since the air compressor was a bit noisy, I just pulled it inside the house so that it wouldn't disturb the neighbors when it kicked on overnight (I was going to a hotel that night anyway, so I didn't care if the compressor ran inside the house).

On day 2, they showed up bright & early again, and wrapped up the job.  The job was inspected by the county inspector, they connected the cleanout and vent stacks, reconnected the new pipe to the interior lines, replaced the dirt, fixed the landscaping, and put down grass seed.  Mike ran the camera through the new pipe all the way out to the street, and I could see that the line was clean.  He took the camera inside the basement and ran it through the lines under the house again to show how the interior lines fed into their new liner.  Again, he was very generous with his time.  The trenchless system is some pretty cool technology, and Mike seems to enjoy showing it off.

When it was time to settle up the bill, Mike explained the costs from the original estimate, and pointed out that his measurements were off by about 10 feet, and they had to use more liner than they expected to connect to the main sewer line.   But, he said it wasn't going to affect the price, though.  When I offered to pay a bit extra to cover the cost of the materials, he politely refused, and said that it just happens sometimes.

Overall, I was very happy with his work.  There were plenty of opportunities for him to push more services on me and try to increase the scope of the job, but he never did it.  I'd recommend Mike and his services to anyone.

STAY AWAY. THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM!!!!

This plumbing company is a complete Fraud. Had made a call out to them to access the situation and see if it's possible to find the cause of the blockage via camera work in my sewer line due to a clog. They send out a gentlemen whom without my consent doesn't give me a quote beforehand and then adds additional fees such as a locator fee of $500 that was never asked for on top of sticking a camera down for over $600!!!!! . In the end he tries to charge me over $1200. He then states he saw roots infiltration and that I need to get it digged up for another 8k just to spot check and potentially over 18k to fix the line. How can he even see roots when sewage is backed up????

I ask to speak to his manager after he demanded getting my credit card information over the phone. After getting his manager on the line, his manager waives the locator fee as he should (this was without my consent) but the ridiculous price for camera location which should be $150 max is absurd. After not resolving anything and leaving with my money, I spoke to some professional plummers to check out the same problem and they stated it's impossible to do camera and see anything. I requested for the video footage they claimed to have seen the roots the next day and they promised to send that over. It's been over a week and I haven't gotten anything.

This company is a complete FRAUD!!!  They charge ridiculous prices and have non experienced plummers handling there work whom tries to leach out as much money as they can. STAY AWAY!