Signs you need it
- Water lingers in the basin for minutes after the tap is closed
- Gurgling from one fixture when another one drains
- Odour rising from a sink or floor drain that cleaning does not fix
- The laundry standpipe overflows during the spin cycle
- Several fixtures slow together
One sluggish fixture generally signals a nearby obstruction. Several slow fixtures on the lowest floor point toward the main line, which is a different job described under main sewer line clearing.
How we do the work
- Locate the blockage. We test fixtures in sequence to see which branch is affected.
- Choose the tool. A hand auger for traps and short runs; a drum machine for longer branches; hydro jetting where grease coats the pipe walls.
- Retrieve, not just puncture. Pulling the debris out tells us what caused it.
- Flow test. We run water at volume and watch the downstream cleanout.
- Write it down. You receive a note of the location, the cause and any pipe condition we observed.
Mississauga homes and this job
Kitchen lines in houses from the 1970s and 1980s frequently travel a long way sideways before meeting the stack, and grease settles in those level stretches. Bathroom drains gather hair and soap scum, made stickier by the mineral content of Peel's lake-drawn supply. Older cast-iron branches also roughen inside, catching debris that would pass through smoother pipe.
What affects the cost
- Access to a cleanout versus removing a toilet or trap
- Length of pipe between the opening and the blockage
- Whether jetting or a camera look is needed afterwards
Kitchen-specific troubles are covered on our kitchen drain cleaning page.
The job, tool by tool
Tools on the truck for drain clearing
- Hand auger, 7.5 m
- P-traps, tub shoes, short sink arms
- Drum machine with 50 ft cable
- Branch lines and basement floor drains
- Hydro-jetter
- Grease-coated kitchen runs and scaled cast iron
- Wet/dry vac and drop cloths
- Catching what comes back out of the pipe
On every job
- Drop cloths down before any tool comes out
- Water or fuel shut and tagged while we work
- Every joint we made checked dry before we pack up
- Old parts shown to you, then hauled away
A call-out, start to finish
- 1Call and describe the fixture, floor and symptom
- 2We arrive, lay drop cloths and shut the water where needed
- 3Trap pulled, line cabled or camera run to find the cause
- 4Fix explained, then cut, joined or replaced
- 5Water run through, joints checked, written note left
Answers our Mississauga crew gives most
Should drains be cleaned on a schedule?
Only when they slow down, unless a camera shows a known trouble spot that benefits from routine maintenance.
Will snaking damage my pipes?
Correctly sized cutters are safe for sound pipe. Badly corroded pipe may be revealed, not caused, by cleaning.
Why did the clog come back?
Usually because the cause remains: grease, roots, a sag or a pipe defect. We note what we find so it can be addressed.