24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Boulder, CO

Mapleton Hill, Whittier, Goss-Grove and the neighborhoods around downtown and Pearl Street have homes from the 1870s through the 1920s, many with basements or cellars and clay tile laterals under very large old trees.

University Hill and the blocks around the University of Colorado mix early 1900s houses with apartments, and many homes are packed with student renters.

Martin Acres, Table Mesa, Majestic Heights and much of north and east Boulder were built in the 1950s through the 1970s, with ranches and split-levels, basements and clay or cast iron laterals.

Gunbarrel and the newer pockets around the city were built from the 1970s onward with PVC drains.

Boulder Creek and several smaller creeks run through the city from the foothills, and the September 2013 flood showed how quickly storm water can overwhelm sewer lines and back up into basements.

The City of Boulder's utilities department runs the wastewater collection system and treatment plant. Each Boulder property owner is responsible for the private sewer service line out to the public main.

Late spring snowmelt from the foothills and heavy storms can push groundwater and runoff into old sewer lines, and May through July brings the most root clogs. August move-in on University Hill brings a rush of rental calls.

Winter can swing from mild chinook days to subzero cold, freezing drains in garages, crawlspaces and exterior walls.

Mapleton Hill and Whittier, just north and east of downtown, are Boulder's best-known historic neighborhoods, with Victorian and early 1900s homes under huge silver maples, elms and cottonwoods. Their sewer laterals are often clay tile laid more than a hundred years ago, and the trees above them have spent that long working roots into the joints. Because these are protected historic districts with valuable trees, trenchless lining or pipe bursting is usually the preferred repair once a line is badly damaged.

University Hill sits right above the CU campus and is crowded with old houses converted into student rentals, some with five or six tenants. Every one of them showers, cooks and does laundry, and the old clay laterals under those houses were never built for that load. Hair, grease, wipes and the occasional foreign object are the usual causes of backups. Landlords who jet their mains each summer before the August move-in avoid most of the September emergencies.

In September 2013, a week of record rain sent floodwater down Boulder Creek, Fourmile Canyon Creek and the city's smaller drainages. Groundwater and storm water poured into the sewer system, and many homes saw sewage back up through basement floor drains. Since then, more homeowners have installed backwater valves, which close automatically when water flows the wrong way. If your finished basement is near a creek or in a low area, a backwater valve and a regular check of its flap are worth the cost.

South Boulder's Martin Acres and Table Mesa, along with Majestic Heights and much of north Boulder, were built in the 1950s and 1960s for families drawn to the university and the new federal labs. Ranches and split-levels with basements are the rule, many with cast iron under the house and clay out to the street. At sixty years old, that cast iron can scale and corrode, and the clay picks up roots. A camera inspection shows which problem you're dealing with.

The first week of the fall semester, five students in a 1910s house on University Hill find water coming up through the basement shower drain. The plumber clears the main from the basement cleanout, pulling out hair, wipes and a mass of maple roots about thirty feet out. The camera shows offset clay joints. The landlord books a liner and schedules annual jetting.

Boulder's west side climbs toward the Flatirons on rocky, sloped ground, while parts of the east side sit on clay that swells when wet. Homes on slopes may have long, steep laterals, and homes on clay can see joints shift over the decades. Either can create offsets or bellies that catch waste. If the same line keeps clogging, a camera inspection usually reveals why.

Gunbarrel, northeast of the city, and newer infill throughout Boulder have PVC drains that rarely let roots in. Calls there are usually about grease in kitchen lines, wipes in toilets and the occasional ejector pump serving a basement bathroom. Some Gunbarrel homes are served by a separate sewer district, so check your bill if you're unsure who to contact.

Pearl Street Mall and the surrounding downtown blocks hold dozens of restaurants in buildings from the late 1800s, often on very old sewer lines. Restaurants along 28th Street, Broadway and Baseline add many more kitchens. Interceptors pumped on schedule and lines jetted regularly keep them flowing during busy events like the Bolder Boulder and CU football weekends.

Boulder winters swing between warm chinook days and arctic cold, sometimes within the same week. Pipes in garages, crawlspaces and along exterior walls freeze first when temperatures drop suddenly. Wrap exposed pipe, close garage doors and let a faucet drip on subzero nights. Thaw a frozen drain gently with warm air, never a torch.

Give your neighborhood and the home's age, whether it's a student rental and whether there's a finished basement or backwater valve. Mention big trees near the sewer path, whether the home is near a creek and whether the trouble started after a storm or snowmelt.