Drain Cleaning in Colorado Springs, CO

The Old North End, downtown and the Westside, including Old Colorado City, have homes from the 1870s through the 1930s, many Victorians and bungalows with basements and clay tile laterals under big cottonwoods and elms.

Postwar neighborhoods across the central and east parts of the city, such as Knob Hill, Palmer Park and the areas off Academy Boulevard, were built from the 1950s through the 1970s, many with clay or cast iron laterals.

Briargate, Northgate, Banning Lewis Ranch and the eastern suburbs were built from the 1980s onward with PVC drains, many with basements.

Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever and the Air Force Academy bring thousands of military families who rent and move every few years.

Parts of the city sit on expansive clay that swells and heaves foundations, while other areas have sandy or rocky soil near the foothills.

Colorado Springs Utilities provides wastewater service. The homeowner owns and maintains the service line from the house to the public main.

Spring snowmelt and summer monsoon storms soak the soil. Hail can damage roof vents and let debris into the plumbing.

Winter brings cold snaps and wind. Lines in crawlspaces, garages and exterior walls can freeze. PCS season in summer turns over many rentals.

The Old North End, with its Victorian mansions near Colorado College, and the Westside around Old Colorado City have the city's oldest homes. Clay tile laterals there run under cottonwoods and elms that are well over a century old. Roots fill most of them, and lining or bursting replaces the pipe without tearing up historic yards.

Most Colorado Springs homes, old and new, have basements, and many have been finished into bedrooms, rec rooms and home offices. The basement floor drain, and often a lower-level shower, is the lowest point in the plumbing, so when the main backs up, it floods first. In newer homes where the basement bathroom sits below the sewer main, a sewage ejector pump lifts waste up to the line; if its alarm sounds, stop using water downstairs and call for service. A backwater valve on the main line protects finished lower levels from a public main backup.

Fort Carson, Peterson, Schriever, Cheyenne Mountain and the Air Force Academy make Colorado Springs one of the most military cities in the country, and thousands of service families rent homes in Security-Widefield, Fountain, Stetson Hills and along Powers Boulevard. Each house has a long line of past tenants and no record of what they flushed. On move-in day, walk the yard and basement to find the cleanout, run every fixture and report anything slow in writing. Landlords who jet the main between leases avoid most first-month calls.

Parts of the east and south sides sit on bentonite-rich clay that can swell dramatically when wet, enough to heave basement floors and crack foundations. That same movement shifts laterals, separating joints and creating bellies. Homes in those areas sometimes have under-slab drain lines that crack as the floor moves. A camera inspection shows whether the line has shifted, and a plumber familiar with expansive soil can recommend flexible repair methods.

In June, after a week of afternoon storms, the owners of a 1910 Victorian in the Old North End find water seeping from the basement floor drain. The plumber clears the main from the basement cleanout, cutting a mass of cottonwood roots, then runs a camera that shows offset clay joints. They schedule lining.

At 6,000 feet, Colorado Springs can go from a sunny 55 degrees to below zero in a day when an arctic front drops off the plains. Chinook winds and cold snaps also dry and chill garages and crawlspaces. Drains and supply lines along exterior walls, in garages and in crawlspaces freeze first. Insulate exposed pipe in the fall, keep garage doors closed and let faucets on outside walls drip during deep cold. A frozen drain should be thawed gently; never use an open flame.

Briargate, Northgate, Pine Creek and the neighborhoods near the Academy were built from the 1980s onward with PVC drains, basements and cleanouts outside or in the mechanical room. The pipe itself holds up well. Most calls there are about busy family habits: grease from weeknight cooking, wipes in the kids' bathroom, toys and hair. A grease can by the stove and a trash can by every toilet prevent most of them.

Downtown's Tejon Street, the restaurants and breweries in Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, and the crowds that come for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and Olympic training events keep commercial kitchens busy. Interceptors pumped on a regular schedule and lines jetted before peak summer season keep them running.

Give your neighborhood and the home's age, whether there's a finished basement or an ejector pump and whether you rent. Mention big cottonwoods or elms near the sewer path, whether the drain might be frozen and whether the trouble started after a storm or snowmelt.