Why Brooklyn Drains Clog
Kitchen lines clog with grease. It goes down hot and liquid, cools a few feet into the pipe, and coats the wall until a two-inch line has a half-inch opening. Bathroom drains collect hair and soap. Toilets catch wipes - the flushable kind included - which hang up on the rough inside of old cast iron.
The NYC DEP names grease and wipes as the top cause of sewer backups across the city.
House Trap Clogs in Brooklyn Plumbing
Nearly every older Brooklyn building has a house trap near the front cellar wall, right where the building drain meets the sewer. Everything in the building passes through it. When the trap plugs, the lowest fixture backs up first - a cellar sink, a floor drain, a ground-floor toilet. Our plumbers open the trap plugs, cable the line out to the street, and check that the fresh air inlet is clear.
Snaking, Jetting, and Camera Inspection
A cable machine punches through a clog and gets water moving. A jetter scours the pipe wall with water at up to 4,000 PSI, which matters for grease lines that re-clog a month after snaking. For repeat backups we run a camera. Roots, a bellied section, or a cracked clay joint means the job has moved past cleaning into sewer line repair.
Drain Cleaning Costs and When to Call a Plumber
A single fixture clog costs the least. Main line clogs cost more because the machine is bigger and the run is longer. We quote before the cable goes in. Call right away when more than one fixture backs up at once, when sewage shows at a floor drain, or when the backup follows heavy rain - a flooded cellar may also need sump pump repair. A toilet that clogs weekly on its own is usually a toilet repair issue. Backups that seem to come from the street get reported to 311, since the city maintains its own main.