Services · Sewer
Main Sewer Line Clearing for Homes Across the GTA
The main line carries everything from your house to the city sewer. When it blocks, the lowest drain in the home is where the backup appears first.
- Repair options explained before any digging
- Main cleared from the cleanout to the city connection
- Recorded camera footage you can keep
Diagnosis first, tested after
- Licensed & insured: ask us
- Camera before cutting
- Water-tested repairs
- Booked by phone
Signs it is time to call
Waste water rising in a basement floor drain or shower, toilets on every floor draining slowly, and gurgling throughout the house when the washing machine empties are signs of a main blockage. In mature neighbourhoods, silver maple and willow roots work their way into the joints of old clay laterals. In newer homes the culprit is more often wipes, paper towel or construction debris.
If the basement floor drain is the one filling up, look downstream, not upstream.
On the job, step by step
- Find the main cleanout, which is normally close to the street-side wall, or pull a toilet if none is accessible.
- Run a sectional or drum machine with a root cutter sized to the pipe, working slowly so the head does not snag a joint.
- Pull back samples: roots, grease, paper or scale tell us what is going on.
- Flush at full flow and confirm the floor drain empties fast.
- Recommend a camera inspection when roots or broken pipe are found.
GTA houses and what they change
Most of Toronto and the older inner suburbs were built with vitrified clay laterals that have joints every few feet. Some homes still have a running trap just inside the foundation, an old U-shaped fitting that catches debris. Many municipalities own the lateral from the property line to the main, so a blockage past that line may be a municipal call. Check with your municipality before paying for work on public property.
Before you pick up the phone
Ask what cutter size will be used, whether a camera is on the truck, and whether the plumber will show you the footage. Call (365) 387-8531, and hold off on showers, laundry and flushing until we have it flowing.
Signs you need this
- Roots or clay shards on the cable from the last clearing
- Wet or sunken strip of lawn over the lateral line
- A backup every spring or every few months, like clockwork
What is included
- Excavation and shoringOpening the line where a joint has failed
- Push camera with locatorFootage of joints, offsets and bellies, depth marked on the lawn
- Typical cause
- Roots at clay joints, sags, broken cast iron
- Access point
- Front-wall cleanout or floor drain
- Proof of fix
- Clean camera run to the city connection
Common questions
My pipe or the city’s: how is that settled?
A camera run with a locator shows the distance to the problem. If it sits past your property line, the municipality is usually responsible for that section.