Residential
RESIDENTIAL DRAIN CLEANING
RESIDENTIAL
Every home has a sewer that carries all your home’s drain wastes from your home to the municipal sewer which is located in the street. That sewer pipe is usually (not always) made of 6″ clay sewer pipe which is installed in 5′ sections at the time of construction. Depending on the quality of the home builder, the trench the sewer pipe is installed in is supposed to be backfilled with 3/4″ stone and/or sand. If that doesn’t happen, the sewer pipe over time will start to ‘shift’ in the ground causing a number of problems.
Some of those problems are:

Back pitched pipes

This means that over time, the clay or cast iron sewer pipes will eventually pitch back towards the house thus not allowing the sewage to flow properly towards the city drain. If the drain is backfilled properly with 3/4′ stone the pipe will be stabilized and never backpitch. When back pitching occurs, it will make it near impossible for the sewage to flow without backing up. This is big problem which can only be remedied but excavating the ground to access the areas of back pitched pipe, then new sewer pipe must be installed then backfilled with the proper materials such as 3/4″ stone, CA6 stone mix, sand and/or other approved materials per your village code.
Bellied sewer
This means that at some point in the linear sewer line, there is a section of earth that has ‘shifted’ and a small section (maybe 5′ or 10′) has sank down lower than the normal grade of the pipe and has caused a ‘belly’ in the sewer. This means that there is now a ‘V’ shaped void in the pipe going out from your house that is causing a blockage or intermittent back up. Once this happens, this drain will need to be hydro jetted on a regular basis and will need to be put on a maintenance drain cleaning schedule. Or, we can perform what’s called a ‘spot repair’ to the section of sewer that has the belly. This means we will have to excavate a small section of the area where the affected pipe is, and install a new section of sewer pipe to repair the belly to ensure proper drainage.

Pipe shearing
This means that at some point in a connection area of the sewer where two sewer pipe sections are joined, one pipe section has settled or ‘shifted’ in the ground the pipes are not flowing in perfect symmetry. This too is caused by improper backfilling and poor installation of the original sewer installation. This is remedied by excavation down to the affected area of the sewer pipe and removing a short section of the two pipes then installing a repair coupling to get both pipes to flow at the same level again.
Pipe separation
Pipe separation happens over a long period of time when the earth shifts and the pipes become separated. The reminder for this issue is to excavate down the separated pipe section, and install a short piece of cast iron pipe, clay sewer pipe, SDR sewer pipe or PVC pipe along with special repair couplings to connect the pipes again to ensure proper flow.
Clean Out – Installation

During or after sewer maintenance or repair, it is suggested to install what’s called a “sewer clean out’ in your front yard. A clean out is a vertical pipe installed in the existing sewer line which allows your drain technician or plumber to access your sewer drain without having to enter your home with heavy and smelly drain cleaning equipment. This cleaning pipe will allow a service professional to perform regular maintenance drain cleaning and sewer inspection all year round. This will allow the drain tech to put his sewer cable or hydro jetting machine down the clean out so he can access any sewer blockages that may occur throughout the duration of your home’s sewer life. All throughout the Dupage suburbs, including Lombard, Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Downers Grove and more, it is not always certain that you will find a sewer clean out anywhere in the front yard or outside the home. Most homes do have a clean out located at the base of the plumbing stack in the basement of the home for sewer cleaning access, but this can present problems with getting sewer cleaning equipment into the home. Asking plumber to bring smelly and heavy sewer cleaning equipment into a nice Dupage style home can be a difficult task. Sewer equipment can often be too heavy to carry down stairs or can often cause damage to painted walls and can
sometimes even crack or chip precious tile floors. While it is possible, the home owner’s preference should always be to have the plumber perform a ‘no contact’ service call and perform any drain cleaning work outside of the home from a sewer clean out access point.
If you are interested in having us find your home’s exterior sewer clean out or to have a new sewer clean out installed,
please give us a call @ (630) 528-1722 and we will be happy to set out an appointment for you