Drain & Sewer Service in Cypress, CA

Read the clues before you plunge

Where the water backs up tells you where the blockage is:

• Just one sink or tub - a local clog in that fixture's drain, usually hair, soap scum or grease.
• Toilet and tub on the same side of the house - a blockage in a branch line under the floor.
• Every drain slow, or water coming up in the shower when you flush - the main line between the house and the street.
• Gurgling toilets, sewer smell outside, or a wet patch over the line - main line, possibly damaged.

What's clogging Cypress drains

Kitchen grease. Fats and oils go down warm and set like wax in cooler pipe. Add rice, pasta and coffee grounds, and the kitchen line slowly closes up. This is the single most common drain call in most homes.

Mineral scale. Hard water in this part of Orange County leaves deposits inside older drain pipes, especially cast iron, giving grease and debris something to stick to.

Roots. Cypress' older neighborhoods have mature trees in front yards and parkways. Roots find the joints in clay and cast iron sewer laterals, slip inside and grow into a mat that catches everything.

Aging pipe. Original cast iron drains in homes from the 1960s and 70s rust from the inside, flake and eventually crack. Clay laterals separate at the joints or sag.

Wipes. "Flushable" wipes don't break down like toilet paper. They're behind many main line backups.

How plumbers clear drains

• Cabling (snaking). A powered cable with a cutting head breaks through the clog. Standard for sink, tub and main line blockages.
• Hydro jetting. High-pressure water scrubs the full diameter of the pipe, removing grease, scale and root fragments rather than just punching a hole. Best for lines that clog repeatedly, if the pipe is sound.
• Clearing from the cleanout. Most homes have a capped cleanout outside. Using it means the plumber can work on the main without going through a toilet.

The camera tells the story

If the main line has backed up more than once, the next step is a sewer camera inspection. A waterproof camera on a cable shows exactly what's inside: roots at a joint, a crack, a collapsed section, a belly where waste sits, or a separated pipe. It also shows where the problem is and how deep, which decides whether it's on your side of the property line and how it should be fixed.

Sewer line repair options

• Clean and maintain - jetting on a schedule when the pipe is sound but roots keep returning
• Spot repair - digging up and replacing one bad section
• Lining - a resin liner cured inside the old pipe, creating a new pipe within it, with little digging
• Pipe bursting - pulling a new pipe through the old one, breaking it apart as it goes
• Replacement - excavating and replacing the line when it's collapsed or badly sagged

In most Southern California cities, the homeowner is responsible for the sewer lateral from the house to the public main, and work in the street or sidewalk area needs a city permit. A licensed plumber will know what's needed in Cypress.

Things not to do

• Don't pour chemical drain openers into a fully blocked line - they sit in the pipe and make the job dangerous for whoever opens it next.
• Don't keep running water into a backed-up main.
• Don't use a garbage disposal as a trash can for grease, bones or fibrous peels.

Keep it flowing

• Scrape plates and wipe greasy pans before washing
• Use strainers in kitchen and shower drains
• Flush only toilet paper
• If roots are a recurring problem, ask about a maintenance plan or a permanent repair