What Your Canton Drains Are Telling You, and How We Clear Them

Reading the Symptoms

Before we pull out any equipment, we ask questions. Where is the problem? When does it happen? What else is running at the time? The answers usually tell us where the clog is. Here is a quick guide you can use yourself:

• One sink slow, everything else fine: a clog in that fixture's trap or branch line
• Tub fills with water when the toilet flushes: a blockage downstream of both, often in the main stack or sewer line
• Gurgling after a fixture drains: air being pulled through a water seal, from a partial clog or a blocked vent
• Basement floor drain backing up: the main line is restricted between the house and the street
• Sewer smell with no visible backup: a dried trap, a failed wax ring or a cracked pipe
• Every drain slow at once: main line clog or a problem with the city connection

Older Canton Homes and Cast Iron Drains

A large part of Canton's housing was built in the first half of the twentieth century, and many of those homes still have their original cast iron drain stacks and branch lines. Cast iron lasts a long time, but the inside surface roughens and builds up scale as it ages. That rough surface catches grease, hair and paper, so clogs form faster and come back more often.

In these homes, simply punching a hole through a clog may not last. Cleaning the pipe walls more completely, and checking the line with a camera, gives a better picture. If the camera shows the pipe has cracked or rusted through along the bottom, we will explain the repair options rather than keep cleaning a failing line.

Vent problems that look like clogs

Every drain needs air from a vent pipe through the roof to flow freely. A vent blocked by debris, a bird nest or ice in a cold snap can make drains slow and gurgle even when the pipe is clear. We check vents when the symptoms do not match a simple clog.

Clearing the Line

Once we know where the clog is, we choose the access point closest to it and the right tool for the pipe size. Sink and tub lines get a small cable machine. Main lines get a heavier machine with cutting heads for roots and buildup. Grease-heavy lines may call for hydro jetting.

Our process stays the same on every job: a free estimate, your approval of the plan, then the work and a quality inspection. We run water through every affected fixture afterward to confirm normal flow and clean up the work area before we go.

When the Fixture Is the Problem

Sometimes what looks like a drain clog is really the fixture. An older low-flow toilet that never clears the bowl well, or a toilet with a partially blocked trapway from a dropped object, needs attention at the toilet itself. Our Canton toilet repair service handles those. A garbage disposal with a worn grinding chamber can send large food particles down the kitchen line, and disposal repair or replacement in Canton may be the lasting fix.

For problems that do not fit neatly into one category, such as intermittent backups or smells with no obvious source, our plumbing troubleshooting in Canton takes a whole-system look.

Steps to Take While You Wait

If a drain is backing up, stop using water in the building until the clog is cleared. That includes the dishwasher, washing machine and toilets. Move items away from the affected floor drain. Do not pour chemical drain openers into a backed-up line, since they will be sitting in the water we need to work in.

To read more about our tools and preventive habits, visit our drain cleaning page for Stark County. Call 330-875-8003 to set up a visit.