
Lease Crutcher Lewis builds skyscrapers. These guys are good at what they do. They’ve been building since the 1880’s. That’s a lot of talent and know how.
The University Club is an exclusive private venue where established company executives go to relax and network with peers. Since the late 1800’s.
Nice venue.
Old pipes. Really old. Foundation made of rock, holding back dirt. Wine cellar next to foundation. Chronic sewage in wine cellar seeping through foundation from clogged, failing sewer pipe, extending under busy Madison avenue, in downtown Seattle.
Lease Crutcher Lewis presented us with this problem-looking for an innovative solution. Upon initial investigation, we found the 4 inch cast iron pipe to be so riddled with holes that our pushrod video diagnostic cameras would fall out of the pipe, becoming lodged in the voids created by years of leaking water. When the 70 feet of 6 inch pipe could finally be imaged, we found years of root intrusion encased in grease, throughout the length of pipe.
Repairing the pipe using legacy technology would require shutting down busy Madison avenue, trenching through the street and sidewalk, trench under the building (requiring stabilization of the fragile foundation). In short, massive disruption in the hospital district of Seattle. The change in diameter from 4 inch cast to 6 inch clay pipe was under many feet of dirt, under the building.
Our only access to the 6 inch pipe was through the 15 feet of 4 inch pipe.
We repaired the 4 inch pipe by installing a thermosetting liner, from the wine cellar. After that, we were able to melt the copious amounts of grease off the roots in the 6 inch pipe, before finally cutting them out very carefully. We then very carefully placed the 6 inch liner into place (installing it through the 4 inch pipe) expanded it and cured it. The whole job was done without shutting the building down for pre-planned venues, even though it took several days.
Crutcher Lewis saved a lot of grief for the citizens of Seattle, and a bundle of money.

When Mountain Construction needed to replace a 4-inch pipe with a 6-inch pipe across a busy five-lane road, Pipe Guys came up with the solution. Using a process called Pipe Bursting, we literally pulled a new pipe through the old pipe while expanding and crushing the original pipe, leaving it in the ground. Only one lane of traffic had to be merged into another lane, so commuters were only slightly inconvenienced. The pipe was ready for connecting in only eight hours and saved Mountain Construction almost half off the next closest bid. The pipe was “fused” together before installation, so the entire 85-foot pipe was inserted as one piece with no joints at all. Using small pits at either connection was the only excavation required, and trenching was not necessary.