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

Midtown, Central Gardens, Cooper-Young, Evergreen and Vollintine-Evergreen have homes from the 1900s through the 1930s, mostly on crawlspaces, with clay laterals under massive trees.

Victorian Village, the Pinch and South Memphis have some of the city's oldest homes, from the 1840s through the 1910s.

East Memphis, Whitehaven, Frayser and Raleigh were built from the 1940s through the 1970s with brick ranches on crawlspaces or slabs.

Newer subdivisions in Cordova and toward the suburbs of Germantown, Collierville and Bartlett have PVC drains.

Memphis sits on loess and clay soils on the bluffs above the Mississippi River, with hot, humid summers and heavy spring rain.

The City of Memphis's Public Works Division runs the sewer system and its two large treatment plants, while Memphis Light, Gas and Water handles water. Memphis homeowners maintain the private sewer lateral up to the city main.

Spring storms bring heavy rain that saturates the soil and pushes water into cracked laterals, and long, hot summers drive tree roots toward any moisture.

Winter is short but ice storms and occasional hard freezes can burst crawlspace pipes, as the 2021 freeze showed.

Midtown Memphis, between downtown and East Memphis, is known for its huge willow oaks, water oaks, magnolias and elms. Central Gardens, Evergreen and Cooper-Young were built in the early 1900s with bungalows, Tudors and Colonial Revivals on crawlspaces. Their clay laterals run under those trees, and roots have filled many joints. Root cutting clears the line, and lining provides a lasting fix without disturbing the trees.

Victorian Village, east of downtown, has mansions from the mid 1800s, and South Memphis and the Pinch have some of the city's oldest homes. Plumbing was added to many long after they were built, and laterals can be a mix of clay, cast iron and newer pipe.

Most older Memphis homes sit on crawlspaces, with cast iron and galvanized drain lines running under the floor. In the humid Mid-South climate, crawlspaces stay damp, and pipes rust from the outside while scale builds inside. Leaks under the house can go unnoticed for months. A plumber can inspect the crawlspace lines while clearing the main.

The bluffs Memphis sits on are made of loess, a fine, wind-blown silt that erodes easily and settles when wet. Clay soils elsewhere in the city swell and shrink. Both can make laterals sag or shift, creating low spots where waste collects. A line that clears but clogs again within months often has a belly.

In July, a family in a 1925 bungalow in Cooper-Young sees the bathtub fill with gray water every time the washer drains. There's no outside cleanout, so the plumber goes under the house, opens the line and cables toward the street, cutting through roots from a willow oak about thirty feet out. The camera shows cracked clay. They add an outside cleanout and plan a liner.

Whitehaven, Frayser, Raleigh and parts of East Memphis filled in after World War II with brick ranches for families working at the cotton exchanges, International Harvester, Firestone and later FedEx. Cast iron and clay from that era are now aging, with scale, roots and cracks common.

Memphis gets a lot of rain, especially in spring, and heavy storms saturate the ground and push water into cracked laterals and old sewers. Low areas near Nonconnah Creek, the Wolf River and the Loosahatchie see the most groundwater. After big storms, slow drains and gurgling toilets are signs to watch.

Memphis is famous for barbecue, and its restaurants on Beale Street, in Midtown, downtown and across the city cook a lot of pork and fry plenty of catfish. Commercial kitchens in older buildings keep their lines open by pumping interceptors often and jetting before festival season, including Memphis in May.

Many older Memphis homes are rentals, and tenants may not know the plumbing history. Landlords who jet laterals between tenants and add cleanouts where missing save themselves emergency calls.

Homes near the University of Memphis and Rhodes College are often rented to students. Heavy use in older homes with clay laterals means more clogs, especially at the start of each semester.

Memphis winters are mild, but ice storms and occasional deep freezes, like February 2021, can burst pipes in crawlspaces and exterior walls. Shutting the foundation vents and leaving a sink dripping overnight is cheap insurance when the forecast drops into the teens.

Orange Mound, one of the first neighborhoods in the country built by and for Black families, and North Memphis neighborhoods like Klondike and Smokey City have small shotgun houses, cottages and bungalows from the early 1900s. Many have been in the same families for generations, and many have never had their original laterals replaced. Clay pipe there is often cracked and root-filled, and some homes have no cleanout at all. A plumber who clears one of these lines will often recommend adding an outside cleanout on the spot, which makes the next visit much quicker and cheaper.

Mention the neighborhood, the home's age, whether it's on a crawlspace or slab, whether there's an outside cleanout and whether big trees grow near the line.