
Drain Cleaning
When the lowest drain in the house starts holding water, stop using the fixtures upstairs and get it looked at before the next backup lands on a floor.
When this becomes an emergency
- Every drain in the house running slower than it did a year ago.
- A ring of standing water in the shower that takes a minute to disappear.
- Repeat backups in the lowest fixture in the house.
What a pro does
Cleaning a drain properly is different work from clearing one, and a plumber will say which he's doing. Clearing punches a channel through so water moves again. Cleaning takes the pipe back toward its full diameter, and that usually means a jetter rather than a cable, spinning water off the pipe wall to strip grease and scale. Which tool comes out depends on what the line is made of. Older stock across the state runs to cast iron inside the house and clay or thin-wall plastic outside, and cast iron that's been scaling for fifty years has a rough interior that grabs everything passing through. Humidity and a shallow water table matter here too, since a joint sitting in damp ground stays damp and lets roots know where to go. Sensible practice is a camera pass after the cleaning rather than before, when the walls are clean enough to actually read. That's when the plumber can tell you if the line is sound, sagging or cracked, and whether this becomes a maintenance interval or a repair conversation.
Frequently asked questions
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