Sewer Line Repair in Highlands Ranch, CO

What we cover here

Highlands Ranch spans ZIP codes 80126, 80129 and 80130, and parts of it carry Littleton mailing addresses even though the community itself is a separate unincorporated area in Douglas County. We work across all three.

It is worth saying plainly, because the mailing address confuses the question of who permits the work and who provides the service: Highlands Ranch is Douglas County, and water and sewer service comes from the metro district rather than the City of Littleton.

A different housing stock entirely

Highlands Ranch began developing in the early 1980s and built out through the 1990s and 2000s. That puts it a full generation after the clay and Orangeburg eras that dominate downtown Littleton, and it changes what we find on almost every camera run.

The laterals here are PVC, overwhelmingly SDR-35. Roots do not get into a properly seated gasketed joint the way they push through two-foot clay sections. Corrosion does not apply. So the calls we take in Highlands Ranch look different:

• Bellies. By far the most common finding. Backfill settles over the years and the line loses its consistent fall.
• Separated joints. Ground movement, or a joint that was never fully home when it went in.
• Construction damage. A section cracked or crushed during the original build, which only shows up years later.
• Grease and wipes. On a sound pipe, the blockage really is just a blockage.

Why a belly produces repeat blockages

Water stands in the sag instead of running through it. Solids settle out of that standing water and accumulate, and once the accumulation is deep enough the line blocks. Clearing it works — briefly — because the sag that caused it has not gone anywhere.

If you are calling someone out every eight to twelve months for the same blockage in a house built after 1985, a belly is the first thing we look for. The fix is to dig to that section and re-bed the pipe at proper grade. More on what that involves.

Expansive soils

Parts of Douglas County sit on clay soils that swell when wet and shrink when dry. That movement is a known factor in foundation work here, and it acts on buried pipe the same way — gradually pulling a line out of the grade it was laid at. It is the mechanism behind a good share of the bellies we find.

What we do in this area

• Camera inspection and line locating — the first step on every job
• Trenchless repair — CIPP lining and pipe bursting
• Full line replacement — when the pipe is past saving
• Hydro jetting — grease, scale and root debris
• Root cutting and treatment
• Emergency callouts — any hour, any day

Nearby areas

Roxborough in 80125 lies west, also Douglas County and also newer stock. Centennial in 80121 and 80122 is north in Arapahoe County with considerably older laterals.

Every ZIP code and neighborhood we serve.

Questions we get asked

Is Highlands Ranch part of Littleton?

No. Parts of 80126, 80129 and 80130 carry Littleton mailing addresses, but Highlands Ranch is a separate unincorporated community in Douglas County. Permits come from Douglas County and water and sewer service comes from the metro district.

My house is from the 1990s. Why does the sewer line keep blocking?

Almost always a belly. Backfill settles over the years, the line loses its consistent fall, and water stands in the sag. Solids settle out of that standing water until the line blocks. Clearing it works briefly because the sag remains.

Can a belly be fixed without digging?

No. Lining a belly preserves the belly, because the liner follows the shape of the host pipe. The only fix is to open the ground at that section and re-bed the pipe at the correct grade.

Do you get root problems in Highlands Ranch?

Far less than in older Littleton. The PVC laterals here have gasketed joints that roots do not push through the way they enter two-foot clay sections. Where we do see roots it is usually through a joint that was already separated for another reason.

Across 80126, 80129 and 80130

The pipe here is newer than the rest of our area, which means bellies and settlement rather than root intrusion. That changes the repair entirely.

Call (303) 555-0147

Platte Sewer Co. — sewer line repair in Littleton, CO. Open 24 hours.