D-01DRAIN CLEANING
Slow kitchen sink. Tub that holds water to your ankles. Floor drain that burps when the washer drains. We clear it, run water to prove it, and tell you what caused it so you're not calling again next month.
The most common call in winter. Grease, coffee grounds and food waste cool in the pipe and stick. In older Manchester homes, the kitchen often drains through a long horizontal run of galvanized or cast iron that narrows with buildup over decades.
Hair and soap, almost always. We clear it at the drain or through the overflow, then check the trap. If the tub drains into an old drum trap, common in pre-war bathrooms, we'll show you and explain the options.
Hair, toothpaste and the pop-up stopper. Usually quick. We clean the stopper and trap so it drains like new.
Lint is the problem. Washers dump a lot of water fast, and a partly blocked line overflows at the standpipe. If this happens at the same time your basement floor drain backs up, the clog is likely in the main line, not the laundry line.
Many floor drains in older Manchester basements connect straight to the main line. If yours fills up with dirty water, read our main line page or call. That's usually a bigger clog downstream.
A toilet that clogs once is a plunger job. A toilet that clogs often, or gurgles when another fixture drains, usually means a problem further down the line.
If the cable comes back with roots, if the line backs up again within a few months, or if more than one fixture is slow, we'll suggest a camera inspection. Sometimes the answer is a full cleaning with a jetter. Sometimes it's a cracked or sagging pipe that no cleaning will fix. We'll show you which.
Drain cleaning is a flat-rate price based on which drain it is and how we can reach it, not on how long it takes. We tell you the trip and diagnostic fee on the phone, and you approve the price before we start. Same rate on nights, weekends and holidays.
We'd rather you didn't. Store-bought chemicals rarely clear a solid clog, so they end up sitting in the pipe. That's hard on old cast iron and galvanized lines and dangerous for anyone who opens the trap later. A plunger or a cheap hand snake is safer for a first try.
That usually points to the main line, the pipe that carries everything out of the house. The floor drain is often the lowest opening, so water shows up there first. Stop doing laundry, avoid long showers, and call us. A camera inspection usually follows.
Most sink, tub and laundry clogs take under an hour once we're there, including setup and cleanup. Main lines can take longer, especially with roots or if there's no cleanout. We'll give you a realistic idea on the phone and confirm the price before we start.
Yes. A lot of Manchester two- and three-family homes share a single cast-iron stack and main line, so one tenant's clog can affect everyone. We can coordinate access with the owner or property manager and send the invoice and notes straight to them.