Where we work: Manchester and the towns around it

The city is where most of our calls come from, and where the pipe is oldest.

• West Side, Rimmon Heights and the old French-Canadian parishes: blocks of triple-deckers and two-family homes from the mill era. Shared cast-iron stacks, long clay laterals, and one main line serving three kitchens. Grease and roots, often both.
• North End: big colonials and Victorians on maple-lined streets near Derryfield Park. Beautiful trees, and roots that have had decades to find the clay joints.
• Corey Square, Hallsville and the East Side: dense older housing, many homes with no exterior cleanout. Expect us to pull a toilet or add a cleanout.
• South End, Bakersville and Youngsville: a mix of pre-war homes and post-war capes and ranches. Some of the post-war homes still have Orangeburg laterals.
• Near the Millyard and downtown: older sewer mains, some of which carry stormwater too. Heavy rain and spring melt can push water back into basements. Ask us about backwater valves.

Common Manchester jobs: main line clogs, camera inspections for buyers of multi-family homes, hydro-jetting for grease in shared lines.

Larger lots, newer houses, and a lot of septic systems. Many Bedford homes date from the 1970s through the 2000s, with long building sewers running to a tank set well back from the house. Ledge is common, so lines sometimes bend around rock. Typical Bedford calls are main line clogs on the way to the septic tank, root intrusion from mature oaks and maples at the edge of the woods, and pre-purchase inspections on older colonials.

Common Bedford jobs: septic line clogs, camera inspections, trenchless repairs under long paved driveways.

Two very different Goffstown neighborhoods keep us busy. Pinardville, right on the Manchester line, is denser, sewered, and full of 1950s and '60s capes and ranches, some with original clay or Orangeburg laterals. Out toward Goffstown village and the hills beyond, most homes are on septic with longer runs and older tanks. Spring thaw along the Piscataquog River brings high groundwater and wet basements.

Common Goffstown jobs: Orangeburg replacement, septic line clogs, floor drain backups.

Hooksett mixes town sewer along the Route 3 corridor with septic systems in the newer subdivisions and out toward the edges of town. A lot of the 1960s ranches we see here were built in the Orangeburg era, and the pipe is now at the age where it starts to flatten. We camera a lot of Hooksett lines before people buy, and the footage often decides the price negotiation.

Common Hooksett jobs: camera inspections, pipe lining and replacement, drain cleaning.

Most of Londonderry grew fast in the 1970s and '80s: split-levels, raised ranches and colonials, with a mix of town sewer and septic depending on the neighborhood. Raised ranches often have a lower-level bathroom or laundry that sits close to the main line, which makes it the first place a backup shows up. Ledge and stone walls everywhere mean careful locating before any dig.

Common Londonderry jobs: lower-level backups, main line clearing, spot repairs.

Rural, wooded and almost all septic. Long driveways, long building sewers, and homes that range from old farmhouses to newer colonials. Clogs here are usually in the line to the tank or at the tank inlet. Seasonal and low-use homes are the most likely to see a line freeze in a hard cold snap.

Common jobs: septic line clogs, frozen line thawing, camera inspections.

Along the Merrimack River. Merrimack has town sewer in much of the town and plenty of 1970s and '80s subdivisions; Litchfield is mostly septic, with sandy soil near the river. Sandy soil shifts differently than clay and ledge, and we see offset joints and sagging sections here.

Common jobs: camera inspections, sewer line repair, drain cleaning.