Drain Cleaning in Burbank, CA

Plumbing Tips

How We Clear a Burbank Drain

The right tool depends on where the blockage is and what the pipe is made of, so the job starts with finding out:

• Fixture and branch lines — the kitchen sink, tub or laundry standpipe, cleared at the trap or further down the branch where hair, soap and grease collect

• The main line to the street — rooter work on the lateral, which on a Verdugo-foothill lot can be a long, steep run with several places for solids to settle

• Jetting when the pipe is coated — high-pressure water takes scaled cast iron back to bare metal instead of boring a hole through the buildup

• A camera before any repair — a line that keeps blocking has a reason, and we look at it before recommending anything you would have to dig for

• Backups at any hour — sewage on the floor is an emergency call, and the number is answered at night

Why does a Magnolia Park drain clog again so soon after snaking?

Because a cable clears a channel through the buildup and leaves the buildup on the pipe wall, so the channel closes. In cast iron from the 1930s or ’40s that buildup is scale and grease bonded to the metal, and it only comes off under pressure. If we recommend jetting, it is because the cable would have you calling again in a month.

Is it roots or buildup?

On a Magnolia Park street, often both. Roots enter at clay joints and catch everything that passes; scale narrows the cast iron above them. A camera run tells us which is doing the blocking and whether the joint the roots came through needs repair, so the fix is the one that ends the cycle rather than the one that buys a month.