24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Alexandria, VA

Old Town has townhouses and rowhouses from the 1700s and 1800s, many with basements and very old cast iron or clay sewer connections.

Del Ray, Rosemont and the neighborhoods north of Old Town were built from the 1900s through the 1930s with bungalows, foursquares and Colonial Revival homes.

Parkfairfax, Beverley Hills, Seminary Hill and the West End filled in from the 1940s through the 1960s with garden apartments, colonials and ranches.

Many West End neighborhoods near Landmark and Eisenhower Valley have high-rise condos and townhomes from the 1970s onward.

Old Town is served by combined sewers that discharge to the Potomac River during heavy rain, and the city is building a large tunnel project to capture those overflows.

Alexandria's sanitary sewers are owned by the city, with AlexRenew treating the wastewater and building the RiverRenew tunnel. In Alexandria, a property owner's lateral runs from the building to the public main and is privately maintained.

Summer thunderstorms bring intense rain that can overwhelm the combined sewers in Old Town and push water into low basements, and roots grow fastest from late spring through summer.

Winter cold snaps can freeze drains on exterior walls and in crawlspaces of older homes.

Old Town Alexandria was a busy port in George Washington's day, and its townhouses, rowhouses and flounder houses date from the 1700s and 1800s. Plumbing came long after the houses were built, so the sewer connections are often a patchwork of cast iron, clay and newer pipe. Many homes have basements, and the floor drains there connect to laterals that run under brick sidewalks. Roots from street trees and gardens, corroded cast iron and old joints all cause trouble. Because Old Town is a historic district, repairs need care, and trenchless lining is often the best choice.

Old Town's combined sewer system carries rain and sewage together. During storms, it overflows into the Potomac and Hooffs Run, and the system can surcharge, pushing water into low basements. The RiverRenew project, a deep tunnel along the waterfront, is being built to capture those overflows. Until it's finished, and even afterward, a backwater valve is good protection for a finished basement.

Del Ray, with its Mount Vernon Avenue shops and front porches, and Rosemont, with its larger early 1900s homes, were built as streetcar suburbs. Bungalows and foursquares sit under big oaks and maples, with clay laterals that are now about a century old. Roots are the most common cause of main line backups here.

Parkfairfax, built in the early 1940s by Metropolitan Life, is a large complex of garden apartments and townhouse-style units now owned as condos. Many of Alexandria's garden apartment communities share sewer lines among several units. A clog in a shared line affects everyone on it, and condo associations handle repairs. Knowing where your unit's line connects helps in an emergency.

After an August thunderstorm, a couple in an 1890s townhouse in Old Town finds water seeping across the basement floor from the floor drain. The plumber opens the cleanout on the front basement wall and clears roots about twenty feet out under the brick sidewalk. The camera shows corroded cast iron transitioning to cracked clay. They decide to line the run under the sidewalk, which avoids lifting the historic brick, and add a backwater valve before the next storm season.

Seminary Hill, Beverley Hills and the neighborhoods near the Virginia Theological Seminary have colonials and ranches from the 1930s through the 1960s, on wooded lots. Laterals there are clay or cast iron with roots. Farther west, near Landmark and the Eisenhower Valley, high-rise condos and newer townhomes have modern plumbing and fewer problems.

King Street in Old Town is lined with restaurants, bars and cafes, many in buildings from the 1800s with very old sewer lines. Busy weekends and tourist crowds put heavy demands on kitchen drains. Restaurant owners on King Street learn quickly that a skipped interceptor pumping shows up as a Saturday night backup.

Many older Alexandria homes have basements, often finished as living space or rental units. Basement floor drains, laundry drains and bathrooms are the lowest fixtures and the first to back up. A backwater valve, a floor drain plug and regular cleaning of the lateral help prevent damage.

Many Alexandria residents work for the federal government, the military or contractors, and households are busy. Grease, wipes and hair cause most clogs in newer homes. Strainers and a no-wipes rule go a long way.

Old Town's waterfront floods during high tides and storms, and King Street near the river sometimes takes on water. Flooding raises groundwater and can stress sewers in low areas near the river. The city is working on waterfront flood mitigation projects.

Alexandria's winters are mostly mild, but cold snaps can freeze drains in uninsulated crawlspaces, enclosed porches and exterior walls of old townhouses. Open sink cabinets on outside walls and let faucets drip on the coldest nights.

Say whether you're in Old Town, Del Ray, Rosemont or the West End, the home's age and whether it's a townhouse or condo. Mention whether the backup happened during rain, whether there's a basement and where the cleanout is.