Sewer Line Backup

One of the worst things for me is to wake up at night to a plumbing problem. That happened Tuesday. From my bleariness I hear the words that water is coming from the bottom of the basement toilet. I soon figure out that our main sewer line is backed up.

I know the history of the house we have and this is the first time since it was built in 1955 that the sewer has backed up. My dad who had it before us was a plumber. He intentionally didn’t plant trees in the front yard to avoid roots getting into the sewer line.

As a handyman I fix most of our plumbing problems around the house. At the house we moved from six years ago, tree roots caused sewer backups about every six months to a year. Cleaning the sewer was a familiar ritual that I don’t miss.

When one of my customers call with a sewer backup I refer them to Garvin’s Sewer Service. Garvin’s is also a full service plumbing company. They have been around since 1940. I decided to have Garvin’s clean our sewer line because my work day was packed and I couldn’t reschedule the job. I called them around 11:30 pm and was told they could come in about an hour. Their charge is the same night or day. I decided to wait until morning as the line, though backed up, was still draining although very slow.

I have always had good feedback when I refer Garvin’s but this would be the first time I would be using them personally. The plumber arrived around 8 am. My wife reported to me how things went and was well informed by the plumber of what he found. He even told her ahead of time that the bolts holding the toilet down may break when he removed them. Thankfully they didn’t. He even suggested that we should replace the downstairs toilet as it is a style doesn’t flush as well as other types. It was information and not a sales pitch.

When our house was built, the sewer lines were made of a clay material. My dad called it tile pipe. It is very common for the pipe to be damaged by tree roots and settling or other environmental problems can also damage the pipe. The plumber said it was possible that something like this is going on with our line. He said that if the problem persisted we could run a camera through the line to inspect it. He said we didn’t need to do that at this time. I was glad to hear that. Many other companies try to sell the camera inspection with every sewer cleaning job. It is expensive and only needed at certain times.

Garvin’s motto is: We Clean Drains NOT Bank Accounts! I appreciate that in a company. Many sewer cleaning companies have all kinds of hidden charges and are always trying to make the job more expensive. You won’t get that with Garvin’s. I was very happy with their service.

Here is a link to Garvin’s.

Please keep me in mind for your home maintenance and repair jobs. I am fair in my pricing and will never do a job beyond my ability. Call me at 303-232-3347.

I also appreciate referrals. If you like my work, please tell your friends.

Philip