Flush It!

I can tell you from firsthand experience that having the sewer system in your home back up and not drain properly is one of the worst things ever. My personal story happened back in 2004 when I moved into our newly built home. The construction had been barely over for a week and the shower on the first floor wasn’t draining. Being an under educated homeowner back then, I thought that I would just use the upstairs shower until we could get the builder to come out and address the problem.  Note to self: this was not a good idea.

I was about three minutes into my shower and the sewage started coming up from the drain around my feet.  Needless to say that shower came to an abrupt end and I was on the phone with the builder about three minutes later. It turned out to be a pretty simple fix in my case:  some debris had fallen into the sewer system during the construction process and caused my shiny new house to be quite the mess.

I was lucky being in a new home and having a minor problem that was a quick fix. This is not always the case when it comes to the waste removal system in your home. The older the sewer system is the greater likelihood that you are going to have an issue with it draining properly. In homes built pre-1972 the sewer system is going to be cast iron or clay style pipe. Cast iron pipe generally has a life span of 35 to 50 years and we are seeing failing systems here on a daily basis. The cause of the failures can be as simple as age, or as complex as the settling of the house, or tree roots that have made a new home in your sewer line.

First and foremost, if the system in your home backs up don’t panic! We have several methods at our disposal that can get you draining again quickly. It may as simple as a hand auger to get little Johnny’s action figure that he sent to explore the sewer out of the toilet, or it can be as complex as hydro scrubbing the entire sewer system to remove years of sludge and grease build up. As with everything in your home, we don’t ever just guess what the problem is, we test to find out what the problem is. Years ago, one of my mentors told me, “Remember if you don’t test you just guessed.”

Our test here is the Spartan Vision 5000 sewer camera system. We visually inspect the entire waste removal system, not only from ground level, but from the roof stacks as well. This very detailed process allows us to determine if cleaning is going to work, if a spot repair is needed, or in the worst case scenario if a total sewer line replacement is needed.

When it comes to the sewer system in your home there is nothing we can’t handle. As always we are a couple clicks away at www.artplumbingandac.com and I can be reached at THW@artplumbingandac.com or let your fingers do the walking at 1-800-475-1504.

If Bohemian Rhapsody comes on the radio and you don’t sing along we are going to have a problem.

House Whisperer out!!