Pipe Cleaning in Fort Worth, TX

Pipe cleaning or drain cleaning?

A single clog, like hair in a tub drain or wipes in a toilet line, usually calls for drain cleaning: a cable opens the blockage. Pipe cleaning is for buildup that coats the pipe itself. Signs it's the pipe wall, not one clog:

• The same drain clogs again within weeks or months of being snaked
• Water still drains slowly right after a cleaning
• Several fixtures on one line slow down together

What builds up inside Fort Worth drain lines

What coats a pipe depends on the line and its material:

• Kitchen lines: cooking grease goes down warm, cools and sticks to the wall. Food catches on it and the coating thickens until the pipe closes up.
• Bathroom lines: hair binds with soap scum into sludge, and Fort Worth's hard water leaves mineral deposits that help it cling.
• Old cast iron: the pipe rusts from the inside, forming rough ridges of scale that snag paper and grease.
• Clay sewer lines: fine roots creep in at the joints and form a net that catches everything flushed.

How buildup comes off the pipe wall

A standard drain cable opens a hole through the middle of a blockage. That suits one clog, but on a coated pipe it leaves the coating behind, which is why the same drain closes up again. Cleaning the wall takes a tool matched to the buildup and the pipe:

• High-pressure water jetting scours grease, sludge and sand off the whole pipe wall and flushes it downstream, at a pressure suited to the pipe.
• A rotating cutting head grinds rust scale off cast iron and trims fine roots at clay joints, followed by a flush.

Older Fort Worth homes: cast iron and clay

Many houses in Riverside, Oakhurst, Six Points, Fairmount and the Northside were built between the 1920s and the 1960s with cast iron drains and clay sewer lines. Decades of rust narrow the cast iron, and North Texas expansive clay, which swells when wet and shrinks in drought, nudges old clay joints out of line so they catch debris and let roots in.

In pier-and-beam homes, common in Fairmount, much of the cast iron runs through the crawlspace. Under a slab, cleaning goes through a cleanout, or through a toilet opening when there is none.

Before an old line is cleaned, a video camera inspection shows what is lining it and how much sound wall is left. Jetting or a cutting head can widen a crack in weak pipe, and cut roots grow back at the same joint.

Restaurant and commercial kitchen lines

A kitchen that fries all day coats its lines faster than a home does. For restaurants and bars in the Stockyards, Near Southside and along Magnolia Avenue, cleaning kitchen lines on a schedule helps keep them from backing up mid-service; see commercial plumbing. At home, a sluggish kitchen line often gives out during Thanksgiving week, when grease, peels and rice go down the sink at once.

What happens on a pipe cleaning visit

1. We ask which drains are slow, how often they clog and whether chemical drain cleaner has gone in.
2. We find an access point, usually an outdoor cleanout, or pull a toilet to reach the main line.
3. We clean the line with a method matched to the buildup and the pipe.
4. We run water to check the flow.
5. We explain what we found and whether a cleaning schedule makes sense.

Keeping a cleaned line clear

• Pour cooled cooking grease into a can for the trash, and scrape plates before washing them.
• Use a hair catcher in tub and shower drains.
• Flush only toilet paper; wipes sold as flushable still snag on rough cast iron.
• If roots were cut from a clay line, plan the next cleaning before they close it again.

Coupons and areas we cover

Current coupons: $50 off for new customers; 10% off for seniors, military and first responders; $0 dispatch fee with a repair. Terms are on the coupons page.

We serve Fort Worth, including Riverside, Oakhurst, Six Points, the Northside, Fairmount and Near Southside, plus Haltom City, North Richland Hills, Saginaw, Lake Worth, Benbrook, Kennedale and Burleson. See all service areas.

Pipe cleaning FAQ

Book a pipe cleaning

Drain clogging again after every snaking? Call (817) 755-5621 to schedule, or use our contact page if it isn't urgent.