Sink, tub and shower drain cleaning in Casselberry
One sink, one shower, one tub: a branch problem, not a main-line bill. We clear it at the trap and tell you if anything else is going on.
Is this you?
Signs it’s one drain, not the main
Only that fixture is slow
Everything else in the house drains fine. The problem is between the fixture and where it joins the rest.
The shower or tub pools
Usually hair bound up with soap, in the trap or the first few feet past it.
It glugs and smells
A drain that glugs can be a blocked vent pulling the trap dry. We check before we cable.
How we do it
How we clear a branch drain
Confirm it’s a branch
We run another fixture and watch. If the main is involved, you hear that first.
Clear the trap
Hair, soap and the pop-up stopper, removed rather than pushed further in.
Check the vent
A slow drain that gurgles gets its vent checked before any cable goes in.
Test it
We run the water until it drains the way it should, and tell you what caused it.
What it costs
What a branch drain costs
One drain is a small job, and it’s priced like one. You hear the visit price on the phone.
Which fixture
A basin trap is quick. A tub with a fallen trap arm takes longer.
Whether it’s a vent
A blocked vent is a different fix, and we tell you before we start it.
No main-line add-ons
If the main line is fine, you won’t be sold a main-line job.
The details
For the people who want every step
What makes it a branch
If one fixture is slow and nothing else in the house is affected, the restriction is between that fixture and the point where its pipe joins everything else. That is a couple of feet to a couple of dozen feet of small pipe, and it is a fundamentally different job from the main line under the lawn — different machine, different time, different price. Anybody bundling the two together at the front door is not diagnosing.
The usual suspects, by fixture
| Fixture | Nearly always | Worth ruling out |
|---|---|---|
| Shower or tub | Hair bound with soap, in or just past the trap | A crushed or badly fallen trap arm |
| Bathroom basin | The pop-up stopper, and what is hanging off it | A shared wall stack with the basin next door |
| Toilet | An object, not a line — it stops in the trapway | A poor flush, which is a supply problem, not a drain |
| Laundry | Lint, which packs rather than clogs | A standpipe that is too short, or a vent that cannot breathe |
| Kitchen | Grease on the wall | Everything else — see the grease page |
The slow drain that is not a blockage
Drains need air. A vent lets air in behind the water so the pipe can fill and empty; without it, the water pulls a vacuum and the drain glugs, runs slowly, and sometimes siphons the trap dry — which is the point at which a bathroom starts to smell, because the trap seal is the only thing between you and the drain.
A blocked or badly arranged vent produces a slow drain with a distinctive gurgle, and a cable put down that line will find nothing and fix nothing, and you will still have paid for it. We listen for it before we start the machine, and a roof vent is a perfectly cablable thing in its own right if that is what it turns out to be.
One warning about what is in the cupboard
Please do not pour a caustic opener into a fully blocked fixture and then call somebody. It rarely gets through a packed trap, it sits in standing water, and the person who opens that trap is going to meet it with their hands and their face a foot away. If it has already gone in, just say so when we arrive — nobody minds, and it changes how the job is set up.
Questions
What people ask us about this
Can I use a drain opener first?
Please don’t pour a caustic opener into a fully blocked fixture. It rarely gets through a packed trap, it sits in the standing water, and the person who opens the trap meets it. If some has gone in already, just tell us.
Why does my drain smell?
A drain that runs slowly and gurgles can siphon its trap dry, and the trap’s water seal is what keeps drain smells out. That points to the vent, not a clog.
Is my washing machine drain a branch too?
Yes. Laundry lines pack with lint, and they can also overflow because the standpipe is too short or can’t breathe. We check that before cabling anything.
Want somebody to look at it properly?
Tell us what it’s doing. The office calls you back the same working day to agree a time. Nothing is priced before somebody has seen it, and you keep whatever we write down.
Other work