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Tools on a dark bench

Call sheet: blocked lines

Drain Cleaning in Whitby

Slow sinks, gurgling tubs and floor drains that smell are all symptoms of the same thing: something narrowing a pipe. We open the line and tell you what was in it.

Talk to a plumber

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  • Licensed & insured trade work
  • Scope agreed before we start
  • Urgent calls triaged first

Signs you need this

  • Tub water climbs whenever someone flushes upstairs
  • Gurgling from the sink after the washer drains
  • Floor drain weeping or smelling of sewer gas
  • Slow drains on more than one fixture

Kit on the van, and the method

  1. Drum auger with ¼–⅜ in. cable for 1½–2 in. branches
  2. Sectional machine and cutting heads for 3–4 in. mains
  3. Self-levelling camera and locator
  4. Trap wrenches, cleanout keys, drop sheets

Before we leave: Run several fixtures at once and watch the lowest drain for any rise.

Where blockages form

Every house in Whitby drains to the same place, the lateral leaving the basement for the Region's sewer beneath the street. Along the way there are traps, horizontal runs, cleanouts and the floor drain. Clogs collect at the points where water slows down: the trap under a sink, the long flat stretch of a basement branch, and the joint where the stack turns horizontal under the slab.

The material depends on the room. Kitchens build up fat and starch. Bathrooms collect hair bound together with soap. Laundry lines pack with lint. Mains grab wipes, roots and anything that should never have been flushed.

How we clear a line

  1. Locate. We run water at several fixtures to see which ones back up. That tells us whether the problem is one branch or the main.
  2. Choose access. A trap arm, a cleanout plug, or a pulled toilet each gives a different angle on the pipe.
  3. Cable. A small drum machine for 1½ and 2 inch branches; a sectional machine with cutting heads for 3 and 4 inch mains.
  4. Verify. We flush hard with several fixtures together and watch for any rise.
  5. Report. What came back on the cable tells a story. Grease, roots and paper each point at a different fix.
Field note. If the cable returns with fine roots on the head, a camera inspection is worth doing before the roots return in a year.

When cabling is not enough

Cabling bores a tunnel through the plug. On a line coated with years of grease, the hole closes again within weeks. That is where hydro jetting earns its place, scouring the pipe wall back to bare material. A cracked or sagging pipe snags waste again however many times it gets cabled, and the honest answer there is a repair.

What you can do between visits

  • Put a hair screen over every shower drain.
  • Scrape and paper-wipe fatty pans before the sink sees them.
  • Keep the floor drain primed by pouring a jug of water down it every couple of months.
  • Find your cleanouts now, before a backup, and keep them uncovered.

For room-specific work see kitchen drain cleaning, bathroom drain cleaning and main sewer line clearing.

Asked on the phone

Should I pour a store-bought opener down first?

Caustic products may soften aged ABS joints and are hard on chrome traps, and they make the job hazardous for whoever opens the line afterwards. We would rather you call first.

Call (365) 376-9113