A main sewer line clog is one of the worst (and grossest) things that can happen to your home. In addition to being extremely inconvenient and making it so that you can’t use water, a clogged sewage line can cause sewage to back up into your home, sometimes causing water damage or contamination.
Many things can cause a sewer line blockage. From invasive tree roots to flushing too much toilet paper down your toilet or even a sewer line breakage, main sewer line issues are surprisingly common. However, they’re often preventable if you catch them in time.
Luckily, plenty of warning signs indicate a potential sewer line problem. It’s important to watch out for these problems so that you can take preventive action!
Backed Up Floor Drain
You should have a floor drain in the same room as your furnace, in the lowest level of your home. It’s also common to have a floor drain in your laundry room. Floor drains are installed so that water has a place to go in the event of flooding. Therefore, one thing you should never see is water, especially dirty water, coming back out of a drain and into your basement. If you do, it’s a good indicator that you’ve got an issue with your drainage system, and it’s likely because your sewer line is blocked.
Sewage Coming Out Of A Basement Bathroom Tub Or Shower Drain
If your main sewer line is blocked, wastewater or material that goes down the bathroom, kitchen, or other drains in your house can come up out of the lowest drain openings in your home. This is usually the basement floor drain mentioned above but is sometimes a shower or bathtub drain in a basement bathroom. If wastewater comes up out of a basement bathroom drain, you’ve got a drain blockage, and possibly a clogged main sewer line.
Your Fixtures Are Draining Slowly
One of the first signs of problems with your sewer lines is a slow drain in the lowest level of your house, usually the basement. If a toilet, sink, shower, bathtub, or laundry drain in your basement drains slower than normal, something is blocking the flow of water. The blockage could be in that fixture’s drain, or it could be a main sewer line clog.
Your Toilet Bubbles Or Gurgles When You Use Other Drains
Sometimes your drains may seem like they have proper flow, but your toilet will bubble or gurgle when you use it. This is a warning sign! The water level in your toilet shouldn’t change when you use other fixtures. If it does, it could mean that you have a main sewer problem that needs to be investigated.
Gurgling Or Bubbling Sounds Coming From Drains
When there’s proper flow in your household plumbing system, you shouldn’t hear a thing. However, you might have an issue if you hear gurgling noises as water goes down the drain, as it could be the sound of water travelling around blockages in your main line. Gurgling sounds could mean a single blocked sewer pipe or that the entire main line is compromised. It’s important to get your sewer system checked out if you hear gurgling.
Causes Of Sewer Line Clogs
There are many things that can cause a clogged sewer line. The most common cause is tree roots intruding into your main sewer. Roots can squeeze through even tiny gaps in the pipe joints in your sewer lines. Over time, if enough roots get into your sewer pipe, toilet paper and other waste flowing through your sewer system can get caught on them, causing a clog and possibly a sewage backup.
Structural problems with your sewer pipe can also cause Calgary sewer backup. If your home’s sewer line was installed incorrectly or shifted over time, low spots can form in the pipe. Toilet paper and debris can build up in low spots until they form a dam, causing a main sewer line clog.
Old, deteriorating sewer pipes can cause main sewer line issues. Many homes built in Calgary in the 1950s and 1960s have main sewer lines made out of “no-corrode”, which is basically papier maché! As no-corrode ages, it starts to come apart. Solid material in sewage water can get snagged on the jagged edges of deteriorating no-corrode and cause a sewer line clog.
Fixing A Clogged Sewer Line
If you notice any of the warning signs above, you should get your sewage system checked by a drain specialist. Reach out to the sewer line professionals at SOS Drain Cleaning for the best sewer line cleaning in Calgary. SOS Drain Cleaning: We fix clogged drains!
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