Older pipe networks laid between the 1950s and 1970s often used pitch fibre. This cheap material is made under high pressure from wood cellulose impregnated with refined, inert coal tar pitch. This cheap material is light and easy to handle, but has an uncertain lifespan. Pitch fibre pipes are prone to:

  • weaken and deteriorate with age

  • sustain damage from chemical erosion – they are not suitable for carrying hot water or waste that includes oils, fats, or petroleum

  • blistering that causes obstructions

  • leakages that cause erosion and subsidence

  • damage in the course of normal maintenance

Pipe re-rounding rehabilitates and re-lines these older pitch pipes using the latest technology. It is a trenchless technology that causes minimal disruption to your operations and is cheaper than laying a new pipe.

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Our technicians can get to work on pipes between 100 mm and 450 mm in diameter. They will require the flow through the pipe to be stopped or diverted.

They begin by conducting a survey of the host pipe to understand its condition and identify its connections. They conduct an initial cleaning to remove silt and other small debris. A line is sent from a winch, through the run of pipe, to an upstream manhole. Our technicians attach a ‘pig’ or head of the same diameter as the original pipe to the line and winch it through the run. It often takes a few attempts, increasing the size of the head with each run, to return the pipe to its original shape.

Once the pig can run through the pipe easily, our technicians clear any debris and install a CIPP or slip liner to reinforce the pipe. The new liner typically extends the pipe’s life by 50 years. They reinstate any connections and conduct a CCTV survey to record the new state of the pipe.

Our teams have years of experience in pipe re-rounding from hundreds of successful rehabilitation projects across the UK and Ireland. Talk to the experts and learn how our pipe re-rounding service can return your drainage network to full capacity.

Talk to the pipe re-rounding specialists at McAllister and discover how we go above and beyond, below, for you.

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