Orangeburg pipe

Entry in Drain pipe and retired pipe · Updated October 29, 2026 · Written by the Know Your Pipes editors from the sources listed under References

Orangeburg pipe is bituminous fiber sewer pipe, made from plant-based fibers and asbestos soaked in a tar-like binder, that was laid as house sewer line in many US neighborhoods from about the early 1950s to the early 1970s.^[1] Strictly, Orangeburg is the brand name of pipe made by the Orangeburg Manufacturing Co. of Orangeburg, New York, but the name is used for all pipe of this type.^[1]

Other makers included the Fiber Conduit Company.^[1] The pipe spread during and after World War II, when cast iron and other metals were scarce or rationed.^[1]

1 Manufacture and use

The pipe came with a solid wall or a layered (laminated) wall, and its ends were shaped to fit together in a simple joint.^[1] Two ASTM standards governed it: D1861 for the solid type and D1862 for the laminated type.^[1]

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, the state plumbing board accepted the material on November 1, 1949, and a city ordinance removed it from the approved list in May 1970.^[1] The city considers the early 1950s to the early 1970s a reasonable range for its use there, and plastic pipe largely replaced it after that.^[1] Dates in other cities differ.

2 Why it fails

The city describes these ways the pipe fails:^[1]

• shifting bedding that lets pipes move and break apart, usually at the joints;
• tree roots entering the joints and loosening or breaking sections;
• the material softening and flattening under earth pressure, losing its round shape;
• solvents, paint thinner and similar liquids poured down drains dissolving the bitumen.

In laminated pipe the inner layers often fail first, so a pipe can look round outside while it rots from the inside out.^[1] The first sign is usually slow drains or backups through fixtures and floor drains.^[1]

3 Finding and replacing it

Ann Arbor keeps no list of houses with the pipe, though since the mid-1980s it has recorded addresses where sewer lines were replaced.^[1] A sewer camera inspection can show the inside of the line, and cleaning with a cutter or snake may bring back pieces of pipe, but digging down to the line is the only sure identification.^[1] Older homes may instead have cast iron drain pipe or clay tile, so identification matters before a repair is priced.

Clearing a blockage by snaking may only be a short-term fix, and cutting can damage the pipe further.^[1] Lasting repair means replacement, by open trench or by trenchless pipe bursting.^[1] Replacement lines can be PVC, such as sewer pipe made to ASTM D3034 for nonpressure drainage of sewage, or PVC DWV pipe.^[3] Other old materials homeowners replace are listed under identifying your pipes.