John Carroll University Sewer Replacement

Project:

This was the second phase of a major sewer replacement project at John Carroll University cafeteria. The integrity of the pipe in the student activity center was compromised due to grease eating away the cast iron piping.

We televised and located the existing sewer drain line to verify the affected areas and minimize the amount of flooring that would need to be removed.

Challenges:

• The project needed to be completed within a 2 week window during winter break. Allowing time for the flooring restoration.
• All trenches needed to be hand dug to minimize any damage to the existing utility lines under the flooring in the student activity center
• All of the sewer pipes needed to be replaced with cast iron instead of PVC pipe because the commercial dishwasher water temperature would melt through traditional PVC piping.  Cast iron piping is more difficult to work with because of weight and lack of flexibility.

Below are some photos showing our step by step process.

First we marked where the existing sewer pipes were located and begin cutting the terrazzo flooring.


After jackhammering and hauling away the concrete, we hand dug the soil working around the underground utility lines which were crossing through our trench.

We installed the cast iron pipe over a bed of limestone.

Backfilled the trench with limestone and compacted it with a plate tamper.

Finally, concrete flooring was poured leaving the concrete one inch lower than the existing terrazzo so the new floor could be laid on top of the concrete base flawlessly.

Completed on time and on budget!