24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Mobile, AL

De Tonti Square, Oakleigh Garden District, Church Street East and Old Dauphin Way have homes from the 1830s through the 1910s, many raised with crawlspaces and old clay laterals.

Midtown neighborhoods like Leinkauf and Ashland Place have bungalows and Colonial Revivals from the 1900s through the 1940s.

West Mobile filled in from the 1950s onward with ranches on slabs and newer subdivisions.

Mobile sits on sandy, low ground near Mobile Bay, with a high water table and frequent heavy rain.

Hurricanes, including Frederic in 1979, Katrina in 2005 and Sally in 2020, have flooded and damaged parts of the city.

Mobile Area Water and Sewer System, MAWSS, runs the sewer system for Mobile. The private sewer lateral from a Mobile home out to the public main is the owner's responsibility.

Mobile is one of the rainiest cities in the country, and summer storms and hurricane season from June through November saturate the ground and overload sewers.

Live oak roots grow year-round in the warm, wet climate.

Mobile, founded in 1702, has some of the oldest neighborhoods on the Gulf Coast. De Tonti Square, Oakleigh Garden District, Church Street East and Old Dauphin Way have Creole cottages, Greek Revival homes and Victorians, many raised on piers with crawlspaces. Their laterals were added long after construction, and live oak roots have worked into many of them.

Mobile's live oaks, some centuries old, arch over Government Street and the historic districts. Their roots spread through sandy soil and find old clay and cast iron joints. Root cutting clears lines, and lining provides a lasting fix without harming protected trees.

Mobile averages more than sixty inches of rain a year, among the most of any U.S. city. The water table sits close to the surface, and heavy storms saturate the ground and seep into cracked laterals. Low sewers can surcharge, and backflow preventers help in low areas.

Hurricanes have hit Mobile repeatedly, from Frederic in 1979 to Katrina's storm surge in 2005 and Sally's flooding in 2020. Storm surge, flooding and fallen trees can damage laterals. After a major storm, a camera inspection checks for silt, debris and damage.

During a summer downpour, a family in a 1910 raised cottage in Oakleigh sees the bathtub filling with gray water. The plumber waits for the street to drain, then opens the line under the house and clears roots from a live oak about thirty-five feet out. On the camera, the clay is cracked with sand washing in. They plan a liner.

Midtown neighborhoods like Leinkauf, Ashland Place and Flo-Claire have bungalows and Colonial Revivals from the early twentieth century, many under big oaks. Roots in clay laterals are common.

West Mobile grew from the 1950s onward with ranches on slabs and newer subdivisions. Cast iron under older slabs can corrode in the humid climate, and sandy soil can let lines sag.

Mobile's Mardi Gras, the oldest in the country, brings weeks of parades and huge crowds downtown. Restaurants and bars run at full capacity, and pumping grease traps before the season prevents backups.

Mobile's sandy ground filters into every open joint and collects in the low spots of an old line. Mixed with kitchen grease, it sets up almost like mortar. A high-pressure jetter breaks it loose, and a liner keeps more sand from getting in.

Many older Mobile homes sit on piers, and the humid Gulf air keeps crawlspaces damp. Cast iron and galvanized drain lines rust and leak. A musty or sewer smell under the house is a sign to check.

Raised homes also make it easier for a plumber to see and reach those lines, which can keep repair costs down.

Mobile's seafood restaurants, from downtown and the Causeway to west Mobile, fry a lot of shrimp, oysters and fish. Kitchens there must keep interceptors pumped to stay open.

In May, before the first named storm, it's worth having an older Mobile line cleaned and camera-checked and pricing a backflow preventer. After a storm, wait for flooding to recede before running a lot of water.

Spring Hill, on higher ground west of downtown, was a summer refuge for wealthy Mobile families in the 1800s and is now home to Spring Hill College and leafy streets of older homes. Higher ground means less flooding, but long laterals under huge live oaks and pines fill with roots. Many homes here have been expanded over the years, with new bathrooms tied into old lines.

Downtown's Dauphin Street is lined with restaurants and bars in buildings that date to the 1800s, and Church Street East has homes nearly as old. Old sewer connections under brick sidewalks and courtyards are common, and heavy use during events keeps them busy.

Mobile's port, shipyards and the Airbus assembly plant run around the clock, and many households work shifts. Water use at odd hours exposes partial clogs quickly, often in the middle of the night.

Share the neighborhood, the home's age, whether it's raised or on a slab and whether streets flooded recently. Mention live oaks near the line.