Clogged Drain Cleaning in North Carolina

What clogs a drain changes across North Carolina. Cast iron and clay lines under big trees are the issue in older neighborhoods, grease and wipes in newer subdivisions, and septic tanks in much of the countryside. Find your city below, or the one closest to you. On each city page you will find a rough cost range, notes on local soil and trees, and one number for a local plumber.

Septic systems serve a lot of homes in North Carolina, in the suburbs as well as the country, and a tank that needs pumping or a soaked drain field shows up as slow drains all over the house. Hurricanes and tropical storms can saturate the coastal plain for days. Many houses sit on crawl spaces, where a leaking or sagging drain line can go unnoticed for a long time. In the Piedmont, red clay holds water around buried pipe, and pine and oak roots find the cracks.

• Septic systems at many suburban and rural homes
• Hurricanes and tropical storms in the east
• Crawl spaces that hide leaking or sagging drain lines
• Red clay in the Piedmont
• Roots from pines and oaks

Ask the plumber to look at the drain lines in the crawl space while they are there, since sags and leaks hide there.

• Kitchen sink. Cooking grease and oil that cool and harden on the pipe wall, plus food scraps, coffee grounds and soap scum that stick to it. A garbage disposal sends more solids down, not fewer.
• Bathroom sink. Hair mixed with soap, toothpaste and shaving residue, caught on the pop-up stopper or in the trap. Small items dropped down the drain add to it.
• Tub or shower. Hair is the main cause, bound together with soap scum and conditioner. Older tubs with a trip lever drain collect it in the overflow and the drum trap.
• Toilet. Too much paper at once, wipes labeled flushable, paper towels, cotton swabs, dental floss and toys. Low-flow toilets from before about 2005 clog more often.
• Floor or laundry drain. Lint from the washing machine, sand and grit, soap, and in basements the silt that washes in. A dry trap lets sewer gas up as well.
• Main sewer line. Tree roots coming in at joints in clay and cast iron pipe, grease built up from years of kitchen use, wipes, and pipe that has sagged or cracked.
• Outdoor or yard drain. Leaves, dirt, sand and roots in yard drains, area drains, driveway trench drains and the pipes that carry downspout water away.