SOS Drain Cleaning

Tim in Roxboro called us when his shower started draining slowly.

We tried clearing the drain using a power auger, but kept hitting a hard object inside the pipe, so we used one of our drain inspection cameras to see what was going on.

It turns out that a test plug (a stopper used by plumbers while they're working on drain pipes) had somehow gotten into the pipe. We ended up having to cut out and replace the part of the pipe where it was stuck.

Afterwards, Tim asked us to post this on his behalf:

"I simply want to commend SOS and, in particular Travis, on a good job, well done.

We had a blocked drain and our regular plumber was unable to unblock it. He recommended SOS. Travis persevered, tried everything he could think of, diagnosed the problem as requiring "surgery" (cutting through the drywall ceiling) and performed the procedure successfully.

Throughout, he was friendly, patient, and courteous. He explained the rationale behind every step and he communicated very well. The invoice was very reasonable given the extent of the work.

We will recommend SOS to any of our friends and acquaintances who need this service. Thank you."

Thank *you* for the kind words, Tim! 🙂

Thank you for the lovely card, Miriam! We were glad to help with your basement drain backup. 🙂

You might know that flushing wipes, hygiene products, or paper towels can cause drain clogs, but do you know why?

Flushing something down the toilet is just the start of its journey. It then needs to flow through your home’s plumbing, out through the main sewer line, and into the city sewer main, which is usually under the street in front of your house.

Water always flows downhill. A properly installed drain line slopes slightly downward for its whole length, so wastewater flows through it easily. Over time, pipes can move around as the ground around them settles, or tree roots push against them. This can cause parts of the pipe to have a flat slope, or even slope upwards. These spots are sometimes called “bellies”, “grade disturbances”, or just “low spots”.

When a low spot forms, water will pool in it. This isn’t a big problem by itself, but if you flush things like wipes, hygiene products, or paper towels, they’ll just sit in the pool of water and not dissolve. Once something’s sitting in your sewer line, anything else that flows through can get caught on it, and over time enough debris can build up to make a dam that blocks the pipe. When wastewater can’t travel through your sewer line, the results are… gross. If you have sewage coming out of your basement floor drain, bathtub, shower drain, or toilet, you probably have a main sewer line blockage.

How do you prevent this from happening? The easiest thing is to not flush anything but toilet paper. But if it’s too late and you have a sewage backup, call us at SOS Drain Cleaning, and we’ll be happy to fix the problem. Once we’re done, we can use our drain inspection cameras to see if there’s a low spot in your main sewer line, and if there is, we can fix it, and give you advice on how to avoid sewer and drain clogs until it’s fixed.

SOS Drain Cleaning: we fix clogged drains!