Sinks, tubs, toilets, laundry lines, and main sewer lines cleared the same day. We find out why it clogged, not just push the clog further down the pipe. Free estimate before we start.
Most people call about one drain. A kitchen sink that will not empty, a tub filling up around their ankles, a toilet that rises instead of flushing. Sometimes that really is one drain with one clog in it. Just as often it is the first sign that the line everything empties into is closing up.
So the first thing we do is work out which one you have. If a single fixture is slow and everything else runs fine, the problem is close by. If two or more fixtures act up together, or water shows up somewhere you did not use, the trouble is further down the line and it needs a different approach.
Clearing a line the right way takes the right machine for that pipe, not one machine for every job.
That last one matters more than people think. A drain that clogs on a schedule is not unlucky. Something down there is holding onto everything that passes, and it will keep doing it until someone deals with the cause.
We check which fixtures are affected and pick the right access point. Getting to the line through the correct cleanout keeps the work out of your living space and gets the tool closer to the blockage.
A small sink line and a four inch main line need different machines and different cutting heads. Using one machine for everything is how pipes get damaged and how clogs get half cleared.
Opening the line is not the end. We run water through it, usually a lot more than normal use, to be sure it carries away properly instead of draining slowly and fooling everyone.
Grease, roots, wipes, a low spot in the pipe, a broken section. You get told which one it was and what it means for the next year. If we think it will come back, we say so.
A snake, or cable machine, drives a steel cable down the pipe with a cutting head on the end. It breaks through the blockage and opens a path. For a single fixture with a fresh clog, that is usually all the job needs.
Jetting is different. It sends water down the line at high pressure and scours the pipe wall from the inside, pulling the debris back toward you instead of pushing it further away. That is what you want when grease has built up over years, or when roots have filled the line, or when snaking keeps working for a few months and then failing again.
We will tell you honestly which one your line needs. If a cable will do it, we are not going to sell you a jetting job. Read more about hydro jetting if the drain keeps coming back.
Grease is the usual culprit. It goes down warm and liquid, then cools and sticks to the pipe wall a few feet along. Every bit of food after it catches on that layer. Hot water and detergent move the problem down the line, they do not remove it.
Hair and soap build a mat just past the drain. Simple to clear, and very easy to make worse with store bought chemicals that sit on the blockage instead of moving it.
Usually something that should not have been flushed. Wipes are the big one, including the ones sold as flushable. They do not break down like paper, and they knit together with everything else in the line.
Lint and detergent residue narrow the pipe over time. A washing machine dumps a lot of water very fast, so a line that just about copes will overflow the moment it drains.
When water comes up here, it is rarely about the floor drain itself. It is the lowest opening in the house, so it is where a blocked main line shows itself first.
The one that everything else empties into. Roots and collapsed sections are the common causes on older Staten Island properties. This is the job where a camera earns its keep, because guessing gets expensive fast.
Waste backing up into a tub, a toilet, or a basement floor drain usually means the main line is blocked. Every sink, shower, and flush from here on adds to what has to come back out. Shut the water off and call us. We answer at any hour.
It depends on which line it is and what is in it. Clearing a bathroom sink is not the same job as opening a main line packed with roots, and pricing them the same would not be honest to either customer.
Here is what does not change. The estimate is free. You get it before anyone starts working. It is the number you pay at the end, and it already includes coming out to you. If we find something mid job that changes the picture, we stop and talk to you first. You will never learn about extra money after the fact.
Clearing the same drain twice in a year means the pipe itself is telling you something. The three usual answers are roots working in through a joint, years of grease narrowing the walls, or a section of pipe that has cracked, sagged, or shifted so waste no longer runs downhill the way it should.
A camera inspection settles it in a few minutes. You see the inside of your own line on the screen with us. From there the fix is either jetting, a spot repair, or a plan to keep an eye on it, and you are choosing with real information instead of a guess.
We work out of New Dorp, which puts us a short run from most of Staten Island. Great Kills, Eltingville, Annadale, Tottenville, New Dorp, Oakwood, Dongan Hills, South Beach, Midland Beach, St. George, Stapleton, West Brighton, Port Richmond, Mariners Harbor, New Springville, Bulls Head, and everywhere between. If you are on the island, we come to you.
Most single fixtures are done inside an hour. Main lines take longer, especially if roots are involved or we camera the line afterward to check what caused it.
We would rather you did not. Those products often sit on top of the blockage instead of clearing it, and then that caustic liquid is standing in your pipe when we open it up. They can also damage older cast iron. If you have already used one, just tell us so we know before we start.
No. Drop cloths go down, we cover or remove our boots, and the area gets left the way we found it. Several of our reviews mention this, and we would like to keep it that way.
Yes, including holidays. A blocked main line does not wait until Monday, so neither do we.
A clog on its own usually will not. What causes damage is what people do about it: harsh chemicals sitting in old cast iron, or the wrong machine driven too hard into a pipe that is already fragile. That is why matching the tool to the pipe matters.
We do. Shared lines behave differently from single family homes, and we can schedule around your tenants. Tell us how many units are affected when you call.
Drain backing up right now?