24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Aurora, IL

The near east and west sides around downtown and the Fox River have homes from the 1860s through the 1920s, including Victorians, foursquares and workers' cottages with basements and clay or cast iron laterals.

Neighborhoods built from the 1940s through the 1970s spread out from the old core, with brick ranches, Cape Cods and split-levels over full basements.

Far east Aurora, in DuPage and Will counties along Route 59 and toward Fox Valley, was built mostly from the 1980s onward with PVC drains, sump pumps and finished basements.

Aurora sits in a broad, flat river valley with high groundwater in places, and most homes rely on sump pumps to keep basements dry.

Aurora is Illinois's second largest city, with a large Latino community, a revived downtown along the river and a long industrial history tied to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad shops.

The City of Aurora maintains the public sewers, and the Fox Metro Water Reclamation District treats the wastewater for most of the city. The sewer lateral from the house to the main is the homeowner's responsibility in Aurora.

Spring rains and summer thunderstorms raise groundwater and stress both sewer lines and sump pumps, and roots grow fastest in late spring and summer.

Hard January and February cold can freeze drains in garages, crawlspaces and exterior walls, and frozen sump discharge lines can back water into the basement.

Aurora was built around the Fox River, with mills and factories along the water and neighborhoods climbing up both banks. The near east and west sides have Victorian homes, foursquares and simple workers' cottages, many built for families who worked at the railroad shops. Clay tile laterals and cast iron stacks are common in these homes, along with mature maples and oaks along the parkways. Roots and corrosion are the most common findings when the camera goes down.

For decades the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's shops were Aurora's biggest employer, and the neighborhoods around them were built quickly for workers. Many of those houses were plumbed in stages, with original lines extended and patched over the decades as bathrooms and kitchens were added. That mix of old and newer pipe can create offsets and transitions where clogs start.

After World War II, Aurora spread outward with brick ranches, Cape Cods and split-levels, often with full basements and cast iron drains inside. At sixty to seventy years old, those cast iron lines can scale and narrow, catching grease and paper. Clay laterals running to the street add root problems. A camera inspection tells you whether to clean, line or replace.

East of Eola Road and along Route 59, Aurora's newest neighborhoods were built from the 1980s onward, many in DuPage and Will counties. These homes have PVC drains, cleanouts in the basement, finished lower levels and sump pumps. Calls there are mostly about grease, wipes and pump problems. Some homes also have ejector pumps for basement bathrooms.

After a June thunderstorm, a family in a 1955 brick ranch on the west side finds dirty water around the basement floor drain. The plumber opens the cleanout, cuts roots from a large silver maple about thirty feet out and then runs a camera that shows a cracked clay joint and heavy scale in the cast iron under the floor. The family books lining for the clay and descaling for the cast iron.

The Fox River valley has high groundwater in many areas, and nearly every Aurora basement relies on a sump pump to stay dry. When a pump fails during a heavy rain, the basement floods, and homeowners sometimes confuse that with a sewer backup. Test the pump each spring, consider a battery backup and make sure the discharge line runs outside and away from the foundation.

Aurora has many large and multigenerational households, and kitchens see a lot of daily cooking. Grease poured down the drain cools and hardens in the line, and over time it builds into a blockage. Wiping pans and putting grease in a can rather than the sink prevents most kitchen clogs.

Downtown Aurora's restaurants and the Paramount Theatre's crowds keep the old river district busy, and corridors along Lake Street, Broadway and Route 59 add many more kitchens. Commercial kitchens need their grease traps pumped and lines jetted regularly, especially in older buildings near the river.

Aurora winters bring long stretches of cold and occasional subzero snaps. Drains in garages, laundry lines on exterior walls and sump discharge lines are the first to freeze. Insulate exposed pipe, keep the garage door shut and make sure sump lines drain freely so ice doesn't block them.

Share your neighborhood and the home's age, whether it has a finished basement, a sump pump or an ejector pump, and where the water appeared. Mention big parkway trees and whether the trouble started during a storm.