A Repair at the Ritz

Trenchless Innovations Solves A Unique Problem Faced by the Ritz-Carlton Chicago Hotel

For many people, the name “Ritz-Carlton” conjures up images of luxurious hotel accommodations found across the globe. Something that doesn’t come to mind? A broken pipe causing water to leak into hotel rooms, hallways and stairwells of the luxury hotel. This was an exact problem faced by management at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

During a routine draining of a water holding tank located on the 33rd floor for the hotel’s fire suppression system, maintenance discovered that a 6-inch wide cast iron pipe running over several hotel rooms and hallways was cracked in many places, causing water to leak into the hotel rooms, hallways, and stairwells.  The cracked pipe was also located behind a cinder block wall spanning several floors so repairing it using traditional methods of excavation meant tearing up the wall just to access the pipe to repair it. A repair of this kind would be quite disruptive to hotel guests, hotel staff and the overall day-to-day operations of the hotel. Ritz management knew they needed a long-lasting and most importantly, a non-disruptive solution to the problem of the leaking pipe so they contacted Trenchless Innovations to evaluate the situation.

An Effective Solution: Pipe Lining by Trenchless Innovations

After thoroughly assessing the problem, Trenchless Innovations proposed lining the broken pipe to correct the water leaks and restore the pipe to new condition. Lining the pipe permanently creates a new pipe within the old, broken one.  The team determined that the best location to access the broken pipe in order to line it was in a small housekeeping closet. A plumber exposed the pipe to give Trenchless Innovations access to it and with that, the lining process was ready to begin.

On the day of the lining, Trenchless Innovations installed the liner at four different locations on the broken pipe. Beginning on the 18th floor, the lining was performed from the bottom floors up so as to not overlap the liner as the lining process was completed.  The liner was made using a special resin that allowed it to be cooled ambiently, without steam, resulting in a quick end to the water leaks and causing absolutely no disruption to hotel operations, surroundings or guests during the entire pipe repair and restoration process.