24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Akron, OH

North Hill, Highland Square, University Park and the neighborhoods around downtown have homes from the 1880s through the 1920s, many frame houses with basements and clay laterals on hilly lots.

Firestone Park, built by Harvey Firestone for his workers, and Goodyear Heights, built by Goodyear's Frank Seiberling, are planned company neighborhoods from the 1910s and 1920s.

Ellet, Kenmore, West Akron and the neighborhoods near Fairlawn were built from the 1920s through the 1960s with bungalows, colonials and ranches.

Akron sits on rolling glacial hills along the Little Cuyahoga River and the Ohio and Erie Canal, with steep lots in many neighborhoods.

Much of the older city has combined sewers, and Akron has built the large Ohio and Erie Canal Tunnel to capture overflows.

Akron's Public Service Department runs the city's sewer system and Water Reclamation Facility. In Akron, the homeowner is responsible for the private sewer lateral connecting the house to the city main.

Spring rains and summer thunderstorms overload the combined sewers and push water into basements, and roots grow fastest from May through August.

Akron sits on the edge of the Snow Belt, and long cold winters freeze drains in garages, porches and exterior walls.

In the early twentieth century, Akron made most of the tires in America, and Goodyear, Firestone, Goodrich and General Tire drew tens of thousands of workers from Appalachia, the South and Europe. The city grew so fast that builders couldn't keep up, and frame houses went up on every hillside. Many of those homes still stand, with basements, cast iron stacks and clay laterals that are now a century old.

Goodyear Heights, laid out by Frank Seiberling around 1913, and Firestone Park, developed by Harvey Firestone around 1916, were planned communities where rubber workers could buy homes. Their curving streets, parks and modest houses are still intact. Clay laterals laid during construction have had a century to crack and fill with roots from the trees that line the streets. Many homes have been updated inside, but the lateral is often original.

Akron is built on glacial hills, and homes in North Hill, Highland Square and many other neighborhoods sit well above or below the street. Laterals from homes above the street drop steeply, and long, steep runs give roots more joints to enter while letting water outrun solids. Jetting cleans these lines more thoroughly than cabling.

Like other older Ohio cities, Akron has combined sewers in its older neighborhoods, and overflows into the Little Cuyahoga and Cuyahoga rivers were a long-standing problem. The city built the Ohio and Erie Canal Tunnel, a large underground storage tunnel completed in 2020, to capture overflows. For homeowners, heavy rain can still surcharge local sewers. Backwater valves and disconnected downspouts help protect basements.

After a July thunderstorm, a family in a 1918 house in Goodyear Heights finds the basement floor drain overflowing. The plumber opens the front-wall cleanout and cuts out a heavy root mass about thirty feet out, near an old maple on the tree lawn. On the camera, the clay has cracked in two places and slipped at a joint near the curb. The family gets quotes for lining and adds a backwater valve to the list.

Highland Square, with its shops and older homes, and West Akron's Fairlawn Heights area have larger homes from the 1910s through the 1940s, many built for rubber executives. Big lots, big trees and clay laterals mean roots are the leading cause of backups. Finished basements make flood protection important.

Ellet on the east side and Kenmore on the south side developed from the 1920s through the 1960s with bungalows, Cape Cods and ranches. Cast iron under the basement floor and clay laterals are typical, and both are now old enough to cause slow drains and backups.

The neighborhoods around the University of Akron, including University Park, have many older homes rented to students. Heavy use by several tenants strains old clay laterals, and annual jetting helps prevent emergency calls.

Akron gets more snow than Columbus or Cincinnati, and winters bring long stretches of cold. Drains in garages, enclosed porches and uninsulated additions freeze first. Keep garage doors shut, insulate exposed pipe and leave a faucet dripping on the coldest nights.

Akron's restaurant scene, from Highland Square and Merriman Valley to downtown, plus the Barberton-style fried chicken houses just south of the city, puts plenty of grease into the sewers. Commercial kitchens keep running smoothly with interceptors pumped on schedule and lines jetted before the busy season.

Give the neighborhood and the home's age, how steep the lot is and whether there's a basement cleanout. Mention whether it rained hard first, whether neighbors also have water and whether old trees grow near the lateral.