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Orange drain cover set in a wall
A drain cover pulled for access.

Home service

Aisle 1 · Drains

Drain Cleaning for North York homes

A drain rarely quits all at once. It slows down for weeks, then picks a holiday weekend to stop. We clear it and tell you what was in there.

  • We start at the trap, clean-out or floor drain
  • On the van: cable auger and jetter, sized to the line
  • You see the broken part before you hear a number
  • Every fixture on the run tested before we leave
Call nowTalk to a plumber(365) 990-1521
  • Licensed and insured (details on the call)
  • Price agreed before work starts
  • North York and next door

Symptoms that call for drain cleaning

Water that sits in the tub around your ankles after a shower is the classic one. So is a kitchen sink that takes a full minute to empty, or a gurgle from the bathroom basin when the dishwasher pumps out. Any of those means something is narrowing the pipe, and it will not get wider on its own.

  • Standing water in a sink, tub or shower that drains slowly
  • Gurgling or bubbling from a fixture when another one runs
  • A sour or sewer smell coming up from a drain opening
  • Water showing up at the basement floor drain when upstairs fixtures run

If more than one fixture backs up at the same time, the trouble is probably further down the line. That calls for main line work; read our main sewer line clearing page.

How the job is done

First we figure out which drain and where. A plumber runs water, listens and pulls the trap if it helps. Then a cable auger goes in, sized to the pipe. Small hand machines suit a bathroom sink. A larger drum machine handles a kitchen line or a basement stack.

Once the clog breaks, we flush the line with hot water and open every tap tied into that line to make sure it drains at full speed. If the cable brings back grease, hair, wipes or roots, we show you. That tells both of us what caused it and whether it is likely to come back.

Lines that keep clogging every few months often need a closer look. A camera inspection shows sags, cracks or heavy buildup, and hydro jetting scrubs pipe walls that a cable only pokes a hole through.

Water that sits in the tub around your ankles after a shower is the classic one. So is a kitchen sink that takes a full minute to empty, or a gurgle from the bathroom basin when the dishwasher pumps out.

From the counter

North York housing notes

Plenty of North York bungalows and side-splits from the 1950s and 60s still have galvanized steel or cast iron drains inside the walls. Those pipes rust and scale from the inside, so the opening shrinks over the years. Kitchen lines in those houses are the usual repeat offenders, especially where a long horizontal run crosses the basement ceiling.

Newer infill homes and condos tend to have plastic ABS drains, which stay smoother. Clogs there are more often about what went down the drain than about the pipe itself.

Skip the chemical drain opener. It sits on the clog, heats up and eats at older metal pipe. If it does not work, the plumber then has to cable a drain full of caustic water.

What to do before we arrive

  1. Stop using the blocked fixture and anything that drains into it.
  2. Clear the cabinet under the sink so there is room to work.
  3. Note when it started and what you have already tried.
  4. If you know where your basement cleanout is, tell us on the phone.

Kitchen and bathroom clogs have their own quirks, so see kitchen drain cleaning and bathroom drain cleaning. For a basement drain that backs up, check basement floor drains. Our grease disposal column and what not to flush cover how to keep the line open afterwards.

Questions

Can I just use a plunger first?

Yes. A cup plunger on a sink or a flange plunger on a toilet is a fair first try. If two or three honest attempts do nothing, stop before you push the clog deeper.

How long is a typical drain visit?

One sink or tub is usually under an hour once the plumber is there. Long kitchen runs or stubborn buildup take longer.

Will the clog come back?

It depends on the cause. A one-off hair clog usually stays fixed. Grease buildup or scaled old pipe tends to return unless the line is jetted or the habit changes.

How the job runs

  1. You callDescribe what is dripping, backing up or cold, and the cross streets.
  2. We ask questionsAge of the building, pipe type if you know it, where the shut-off is.
  3. We open it upTrap off, clean-out open or wall cut: find the actual fault before quoting the fix.
  4. We test itOpen each tap on that run, watch the joints dry and show you what came out.