Drain clogs are typically grouped into three categories: bathroom, kitchen & laundry and main line stoppages.
Toilet clogs are either due to something stuck in the toilet or something downstream of the toilet causing the clog. The most common internal toilet clogs are due to use of paper towels and baby wipes, foreign objects (air fresheners, cell phones, toys, potatoes, toilet paper rollers, Q-tips)and sometimes just too much toilet paper used at once.
Some toilets are poorly designed and tend to catch more debris than other. Glazed trap ways and good design tend to aid in more solids passing through the toilet. Two great performing toilets are the Kohler Cimmaron and the Kohler pressure assisted model. Internal toilet clogs can be solved by using a plunger and/or a closet auger and/or pulling the toilet and snaking it upside down.
Downstream toilet clog are typically caused by caused by debris trapped downstream in the pipe, a clogged main line or a section of pipe with no slope which is building up debris (a pipe with no slope will build sludge on the walls and eventually clog). The solution to a downstream clog is to snake the line either through a downstream cleanout or to pull the toilet of the floor and snake line through the toilet opening.
Kitchen and Laundry stoppages are typically due to lint and grease build up in the lines. Grease tends to solidify in the pipe as it goes further downstream, typcially grease clogs generally develop at around 30 feet downstream from the kitchen sink.
To unclog these lines we can either snake from the vent stack of the fixture or attempt to snake from the trap side of the fixture. Generally plastic kitchen and
laundry pipe line unclog relatively easy. Cast iron kitchen and laundry lines tend
to build up heavy duty rust scale combined with grease and may need to be have a section cut out to get a ridged enough cable down to open up the piping.
Main line stoppages are typically the result of broken pipes, tree roots or sections of pipe with no slope. We typically tackle main line stoppages through a sewer cleanout which most houses have at the point where the pipe exits the house.
Through the cleanout we can run a large enough cable to clear the blockage. Generally we use a pipe camera after every main line stoppage to insure that there is no underlying problems with the pipe. We have encountered on numerous occasions the cause of the main line stoppage was due to the utility companies damaging a homeowners sewer line while drilling in new wires and telephone poles (in these cases the utility companies typically will pay your bill).
Most of the root problems we encounter are due to old piping deteriorating or improperly installed piping.
If you are interested in a free estimate. Give us a call or send me an email.
Michael Whitman
Atlantis Plumbing
www.atlantisplumbing.com
Email: AtlantaPlumber@yahoo.com
770-505-8570
