24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Clarksville, TN

Downtown Clarksville and the neighborhoods around Austin Peay State University have homes from the 1880s through the 1940s, many on crawlspaces with clay laterals.

Neighborhoods built from the 1950s through the 1970s near Fort Campbell Boulevard and Madison Street have ranches on crawlspaces or slabs.

Most of Clarksville's growth since the 1990s, in areas like Sango, St. Bethlehem and along Highway 41A, has been subdivisions of slab homes with PVC drains.

Clarksville sits on karst limestone with many sinkholes, along the Cumberland and Red rivers.

Fort Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne, means many families move in and out every few years, and many homes are rentals.

Clarksville Gas and Water operates the city's sewer system and treatment plant. A Clarksville homeowner is responsible for the private sewer line between the house and the public main.

Spring rains and summer storms saturate the ground and can open sinkholes, and roots grow fastest in warm months. PCS season in summer brings a wave of move-ins.

Mild winters still bring cold snaps that freeze crawlspace and garage pipes.

Fort Campbell straddles the Tennessee and Kentucky line just north of Clarksville, and many soldiers and their families live in the city. Families move every few years, and many homes are rentals that have seen a lot of different tenants. New occupants often don't know a home's plumbing history, and the first sign of a problem is a backup. Landlords and property managers who jet lines between tenants prevent many emergency calls.

Clarksville's historic downtown, rebuilt after a 1999 tornado, and the neighborhoods around Austin Peay have homes from the late 1800s and early 1900s, many on crawlspaces. Clay laterals under big trees are often original, and roots and cracks are common.

Clarksville sits on limestone riddled with caves and sinkholes. Water dissolves the rock over time, and the ground above can collapse. A sinkhole near a sewer line can undermine the pipe, causing a sag or break. If your yard sinks over the sewer path, have the line inspected right away.

Clarksville has added thousands of homes since the 1990s, and new subdivisions keep spreading toward Sango, St. Bethlehem and the Kentucky line. New homes have PVC drains, but construction debris like concrete, drywall mud and scraps of pipe sometimes ends up in the lines. A camera inspection on a new home can catch it early.

In July, a military family who just moved into a 2008 slab home in St. Bethlehem finds the kitchen sink and dishwasher backing up. The plumber clears a thick plug of grease and food from the kitchen line, left by the previous tenants and made worse by a week of unpacking dinners. Jetting scrubs the line clean.

Neighborhoods built from the 1950s through the 1970s near Fort Campbell Boulevard and Madison Street have ranches with cast iron drains and clay laterals. Scale and roots are common at this age.

Homes near Austin Peay State University are often rented to students. Heavy use through old clay laterals leads to frequent clogs, especially in August and January.

The Cumberland and Red rivers meet in Clarksville, and the 2010 flood put parts of the city under water. Low areas near the rivers have higher groundwater, and heavy storms can push water into cracked lines.

Fort Campbell Boulevard, Wilma Rudolph Boulevard and downtown are lined with restaurants serving soldiers and families. Busy kitchens stay open with interceptors pumped on a regular cycle.

Large military families, frequent moves and busy schedules mean a lot of cooking and quick cleanup. Grease poured down the sink cools and hardens in the line. Wiping pans and keeping a grease can by the stove prevent most kitchen clogs.

A garbage disposal doesn't make grease safe. It only chops food into smaller pieces that stick to the grease farther down the pipe.

Older Clarksville homes on crawlspaces have drain lines under the floor that can leak or sag. Humid summers keep crawlspaces damp. A sewer smell under the house is a sign to have the lines checked.

Clarksville's winters are mild, but cold snaps and ice storms can freeze pipes in crawlspaces and garages. Close crawlspace vents during cold weather and keep a faucet dripping on the coldest nights.

Summer is permanent change of station season, when thousands of military families leave Fort Campbell and thousands more arrive. Homes sit empty for a week or two between tenants, traps dry out, and the new family moves in and immediately runs loads of laundry, dishes and showers. A partial clog left behind by the last household often shows up within days. Property managers who schedule a quick camera run or a jetting during that turnover window catch most problems before the new family has a chance to find them the hard way.

For families buying rather than renting, it is worth asking the seller whether the line has ever been cleared, and how often. A home that needed its main cleared every year has a problem that a single cleaning will not solve.

Parts of Montgomery County outside the city limits, and some older properties on the fringes of Clarksville, still use septic systems. On karst limestone, drain fields can behave unpredictably, and a full tank can look exactly like a clogged sewer line. If your home isn't connected to Clarksville Gas and Water sewer, tell the plumber, because a septic backup may need a pump truck instead of a drain machine.

Mention the neighborhood, the home's age and whether it's a rental. Say whether it's on a slab or crawlspace, whether the yard has sunk anywhere and which drains are affected.