Drain cleaning in Raleigh, NC: slow sinks, backed-up tubs and stubborn clogs

Snaking, rooter and auger work for soft blockages

A drain snake, sometimes called a rooter or auger, is a flexible cable with a cutting or hooking head that spins through a clog. It suits single-fixture blockages made of hair, soap and paper, and it is the usual first tool for a kitchen or bathtub line.

Snaking has limits. A cable bores a hole through a blockage and leaves the walls of the pipe coated, so a drain can clog again within weeks. If the same drain slows down repeatedly, ask for a camera look instead of another round with the snake.

Drain pipe repair and cast iron that has worn thin

Not every clog is a blockage. Older cast iron drain pipe rusts from the inside, builds rough scale that catches debris, and can crack or flake. Signs include recurring clogs in the same spot, a rotten-egg smell near floor drains, brown water after use, or a section of pipe that looks flaky when exposed.

A camera inspection, also called a video inspection, tells you whether the pipe is merely dirty or actually damaged, and it can show a drain that leaks into a wall or slab instead of clogging. If it is damaged, a plumber can replace the failed section with new pipe, and should show you the footage and explain why a cleaning alone will not hold. Ask how much of the line is affected, since one bad section on a long run is a smaller job than a stack that is rough end to end, and keep the camera photographs with the distance noted.

Clogged, slow and backed-up drains: tell the cause apart

Where the symptom shows up tells you where the clog probably sits, and the table puts the usual patterns in one place so you can describe yours clearly when you call.

When water has no other place to go, it appears in the lowest drain in the house, so a backup in a basement-level shower or floor drain often means the main line is blocked. That is a same-day call. Mainline drain cleaning and snaking, done from a cleanout with a heavier cable than a sink needs, reaches the large line that serves the whole house. If sewage reaches the floor, keep children and pets away and avoid touching it with bare hands.

Hydro jetting service for grease, roots and heavy buildup

Hydrojet drain cleaning uses high-pressure water from a hose and nozzle to scour the inside of a pipe, rather than poking a hole through the blockage. It is the right tool when grease has coated the pipe, when buildup is thick, or when roots have entered through a joint and need to be cleared.

Because it works at high pressure, jetting is not for every pipe. A camera check first shows whether the line can handle it. Restaurants and other food businesses, where kitchen drains and grease traps load the system, often use jetting on a schedule, and the City's grease rules apply to them as much as to homes. Commercial kitchen drains also include exhaust hood drains and grease traps, where grease builds up faster than in a house.

Drain odors, floor drains and yard drainage come up on the same visit. Persistent drain odors despite cleaning usually mean something other than a clog: a sewer smell may come from a dry trap that needs water, a French drain or yard drain is a separate drainage system, and a plumber can tell you which of these actually belongs to the drain line.