After spending nearly a decade using traditional fixes to prevent an aged wet vent pipe from cracking and releasing stenches, this customer decided to invest in a long-term solution. Although an inversion pipe lining company told the building engineer that the failing pipe system could not be rehabilitated without causing a great deal of destruction to the property, NuFlow completed the project without causing destruction or disruption to the lavish commercial property.
Project: Use the NuDrain CIPP to rehabilitate a failing wet vent system without causing disruptions to the busy and esteemed office space.
Customer: ABM Engineering is a leading facility solution and building maintenance company that provides on-site commercial property maintenance to thousands of clients across the United States and international community.
Site: Almost two acres of beautiful historic property used as commercial real estate space. The building was constructed in 1938 and is located in Beverly Hills, California, across from Beverly Hills City Hall.
System: The wet vent system (a waste system that also serves as a vent system) for the restrooms. These cast iron pipes have a 4-inch diameter and are located throughout the walls and floors in the building. The pipe system includes many elbows, and the pipes are only exposed in the building’s basement.
Problem: The building engineer had received complaints about a sewage smell in the building as soon as he started working there in 2005. For almost 10 years, the building used different traditional repair methods but could never find a long-term solution to prevent cracks in the pipe and rid the building of the sewage smell. A liquid smoke test, performed by another company, revealed the many cracks and leaks throughout the aged pipe system.
Circumvention: If the customer had not chosen NuFlow’s innovative solution to rehabilitate the failing pipe system, the tenants would have experienced a lot of inconvenience. Since the pipes are all hidden throughout the building, a traditional re-pipe would be very destructive and disruptive. The customer also talked to an inversion lining company about this project, the inversion company told the customer that many holes would be dug due to the large amount of 90-degree elbows in the pipe system. All alternatives to NuFlow’s solution would be much more expensive, destructive and time-consuming.
Solution: Engineers at ABM Engineering recommended NuFlow as an effective long-term solution that is ideal for historical buildings. First, the wet vent pipes were thoroughly cleaned with NuFlow’s cutting tools, removing all debris. Next, since only one cleanout was available, NuFlow technicians created an outside cleanout to ease future maintenance on the pipe system. Then, the NuDrain system’s epoxy-soaked liner was installed into the pipe system. The liner cured within a few hours, leaving a protective, seamless pipe inside the original host pipe that sealed all cracks. Thanks to Nu Flow’s patented Pull-in-Place process, the historical building’s foundation, walls and flooring were preserved, and the tenants were not disrupted by a messy and loud construction site. A final liquid smoke test was performed and the results showed that there were no more breaches in the pipe system, leaving the customer extremely satisfied with our work.
“For us to be convinced that it was 100 percect fixed, we did a liquid smoke test and they could not find leaks anywhere. And that was a good feeling. The NuFlow system worked!”
– Roobik Asadorian, Building Engineer, ABM Engineering
Today!