The usual method of laying tile house sewers is to dig a trench from the street sewer to the house that is to be connected, grading the bottom to as nearly the required slope as possible and laying the pipe on the bottom of the trench. Where the grading is imperfectly done, the pipe must be blocked up in the low spots to the required grade before the joints are made. The joints are made by filling the hubs with mortar made of equal parts Portland cement and sand. When drains are thus installed, the bracings under the pipes are seldom sufficient to hold the pipe in position while the trench is being filled, consequently, the joints are very apt to be broken.

A good method of laying tile pipe is to so dig the trench that the bottom will have a proper and uniform grade, then, by scooping out where the hubs come, the pipe can be laid with a good bearing its entire length on undisturbed earth. This method, when properly carried out, is unquestionably the best known method of laying tile pipe, but great care must be taken in digging the trench so as not to spoil the bearing for the pipe by digging below the grade.

A quick method of laying tile pipe is to dig the trench to the proper grade and bed a line of planks firmly on the bottom; then lay the drain on the planks. By this method the time of leveling each length of pipe is saved, also the time excavating for the hubs, and if the planks are properly graded, the drain is bound to have a proper and uniform fall. Some authorities advocate the bedding of tile pipe in six inches of concrete, but as the concrete would increase the cost of a tile drain to more than the cost of an iron one, it would be better to install an iron drain instead.