Horror Stories from Your Drain Experts
Whether you are relocating, visiting, or are a local, you need to become educated on home drain systems. Otherwise, you could become our next horror story with a crisis situation like this! The sad truth is many of these emergencies that cause extensive damage to your home or business can be avoided.
Your home drain system has many different lines that all feed into the mainline, which then flows out to either a septic system or to the city sewer system. If any of these lines become blocked, it may be time to call on a professional. The following symptoms are indicators of a bigger problem:
- Your sink, bathtub or shower is draining slowly, or not at all
- One or more of your toilets is becoming clogged or overflowing for no apparent reason
- You hear gurgling sounds coming from your sink or toilet
- There is an unexplained foul odor in your home, or sewage is backing up into your drains
If you are on city sewer, you are responsible for any issues that may occur between your home and the city sewer line, while a septic system is completely your responsibility from the home all the way to the septic tank. In either case, the goal is to keep your drains flowing smoothly so that you don’t end up in with a potential horror story that requires an unexpected visit from a sewer and drain professional!
While you can’t control roots growing into your pipes, you can control keeping them in check by having the mainline inspected WITH A CAMERA each year. Your other lines shouldn’t need scoped unless you have one of the symptoms listed above.
You also have control over what YOU allow down into your drains (we have not yet been able to find a way to ensure others don’t allow these down the drains. The best you can do is to educate those who live in or visit your home).
These items should NEVER go down the drains:
- Kitchen sink – Coffee grounds, grease, egg shells, or any large food items
- Sink/Tub – Excessive hair, small bath toys, razor blades
- Toilets – Paper towels, excessive toilet paper, and especially wipes (even the “flushable” kind can get caught in the line and be the beginning of other items getting caught and forming an impassable blockage) and feminine products
It should go without saying that NO foreign objects are to be flushed or washed down the drains. However, we have found screwdrivers, razor blades, Barbie dolls, kids toys, Tupperware lids and even a walkie talkie! Accidents do happen, so if you know a foreign object has gone into one of your drains, it would be wise to call a professional before it turns into a potential horror story!
The drain pros should have the proper equipment to perform preventative maintenance and clear the lines of any blockages. This can be accomplished by either snaking (an auger with blades at the end of a steel cable that is designed to cut through the blockage) or hydro jetting (uses high pressure water jets to remove blockages, debris, grease, sludge and even larger tree roots from the lines). They should also have a camera to be able to scope your lines.
If it is a mainline that needs snaked or jetted, an outside cleanout will alleviate the need for them to either pull a toilet to get to the line, or get on the roof. Either of these requires additional time and risk. Another consideration is if your home is plumbed properly, which we still find many homes that are not. If a home is plumbed properly AND there is an outside cleanout, it makes the drain professional’s job so much faster, and easier on your pocketbook!
Our biggest list of horror stories comes from customers who already paid to have a problem solved, only to end up discovering that it wasn’t actually solved because the root (no pun intended!) cause of the problem was actually still there. DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! Make sure you have “eyes” on your pipes to see your line is clear all the way to the city line or septic tank by insisting that your drain pro use a camera. The importance of camera inspections can’t be stressed enough!
Most of the time, a drain pro can clear any blockages in your mainline by snaking or hydro jetting. However, sometimes bad plumbing, or a collapsing/collapsed line is the issue. At this point, your only option to getting your mainline flowing freely again is to repair or replace.
Traditional digging and excavation used to be the only option, which is unsightly and often destructive to landscaping or driveways. We’ve all seen a beautiful yard destroyed by a backhoe that was required in order to expose the existing line. In many cases, this will still be the least expensive option and may be better for somebody who isn’t planning to own the home much longer.
There is now a new TRENCHLESS, NO DIG TECHNOLOGY available, which allows you to save your yard or driveway! This technology allows access to both ends of the pipe to either burst out the old line, while dragging a new line through it (known as Pipe Bursting), OR shoot a brand new liner inside of the existing one (known as CIPP – Cured in Place Pipe). Pipe lining will put an end to the root horror story, as it is guaranteed against root intrusions for 50 years.
Purchasing a new home?
Make sure to budget for a Camera/Video Inspection of your drains to make sure that you aren’t purchasing a horror story waiting to happen. Many home buyers don’t think this is necessary for new construction.
Just ask Sally (not her real name) – A month after moving into her brand new home, called with sewage backing into her home. Our camera found that the mainline had been punctured by a rock (probably when it was being backfilled after it passed inspection).
Or Bob (again, fictitious name), who was outside of the 1 year warranty period on his new home and was experiencing backup into the basement drain when large amounts of water were being drained (ie…dishwasher, doing laundry and bathtub at the same time). Our camera showed the mainline wasn’t installed with enough of a downward grade towards the septic tank. We located and marked the line. The repair required the concrete in the basement to be dug up at the homeowners expensed. DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!!
Purchasing a previously owned home?
Even if the current homeowner can provide a receipt that the line was snaked, a large root, like the one pictured, can STILL be living in the drain that the snake couldn’t cut. The ONLY way to have complete peace of mind over what might be living or growing in your pipes is to have a camera inspection done and to see it with your own eyes.
Congratulations on your decision to relocate to Buena Vista, or for anybody else who reads this to the end, we hope this information is useful in preventing a drainage horror story of your own!
Lyndsay – maybe we could put a cute little box around the takeaways?
Takeaways to avoid your own personal horror story:
- Only hire a sewer/drain pro who has a camera and encourages you to be there to see
- Invest in getting an outside cleanout installed (every 100 feet if you have a longer run to the city line or septic tank) if you don’t already have one
- Make sure none of the following is going down your drains:
Kitchen: Coffee grounds, grease, egg shells, or any large food items,
Bathroom sink/tub: Excessive hair, small bath toys, razor blades
Toilets – Paper towels, excessive TP, feminine products, and wipes (even “flushable” ones)
- Whether you are looking to purchase new construction, or a previously owned home, include a Camera/Video Inspection in your budget!
- Remember Trenchless No Dig sewer line repair/replacement options for yourself, friends or family
Written by the team at Small Town Drain