24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Provo, UT

Downtown Provo, the Maeser and Franklin neighborhoods and the Joaquin area near BYU have homes from the 1890s through the 1940s, many with basements and clay laterals.

Neighborhoods around BYU have many homes converted to student housing, often with basement apartments.

North and east Provo filled in from the 1950s through the 1980s with ramblers and split-levels.

Newer subdivisions and large student apartment complexes have been built since the 1990s.

Provo sits between Utah Lake and the Wasatch Mountains, with cold winters, hot summers and spring snowmelt.

Provo City's Public Works department runs the city's sewer system and water reclamation facility. Provo homeowners maintain the sewer lateral from the house to the city main.

Fall and winter semesters keep student housing full, and spring snowmelt raises groundwater. Summer heat drives roots toward water.

In January, inversions can keep Utah Valley below freezing for days, which is when garage laundry lines and pipes in north-facing walls freeze.

BYU's tens of thousands of students live in apartment complexes and in older homes near campus that have been divided into upstairs and basement units. Some houses hold a dozen or more residents. Those laterals carry far more hair, grease and paper than they were built for. Property owners who jet lines before fall and winter semesters, and who post simple rules about wipes and grease, avoid many emergencies.

Basement apartments are common in Provo, both in student housing and family homes. They sit at the bottom of the plumbing, and when the lateral clogs, their shower and floor drain fill first. A backwater valve on the main line protects basement tenants.

Downtown Provo, Maeser and Franklin have homes from the late 1800s and early 1900s, many with brick walls and basements. Clay laterals under big trees fill with roots, and some homes have been patched many times over the decades.

In September, the basement tenants in a converted 1920s home near BYU find water rising through their shower drain. The landlord calls a plumber, who opens the basement cleanout and pulls out hair, wipes and roots about thirty feet out. On camera, the clay has cracked at two joints. The owner schedules a liner during the summer break.

West Provo sits on lower ground near Utah Lake, where groundwater is higher, especially during spring snowmelt. Cracked laterals take in water, and basements see seepage.

Provo winters bring inversions and cold snaps. Garage laundries and pipes in outside walls are most at risk. A warm basement and foam sleeves on exposed runs prevent most of it.

Outside the student areas, many Provo homes house large families, and busy kitchens and bathrooms produce plenty of clogs. Grease, wipes and toys are the usual culprits.

Neighborhoods built from the 1950s through the 1980s in north and east Provo have ramblers and split-levels with cast iron and clay laterals that are now aging.

Provo's water is hard, and scale builds up inside drain pipes. Jetting clears scale and grease.

Center Street's restaurants and the corridors along University Avenue serve students and families. Fryer-heavy kitchens near campus need their grease traps emptied more often than most.

Late-night spots near campus that run fryers well past midnight need more frequent pumping than a typical family restaurant.

Homes on the east bench near Rock Canyon sit on sloping, rocky lots. Laterals there run steeply downhill, and rocky soil makes digging hard. Lining avoids excavation.

When the Wasatch snowpack melts in spring, creeks like the Provo River run high and groundwater rises. Cracked laterals and old basements take in water.

Joaquin, just south of campus, was once a neighborhood of family homes and is now dominated by student housing, with older houses divided into several units and newer apartment buildings squeezed between them. Laterals from the older homes are often clay and were never upgraded when the houses were converted. One lateral may now serve three or four apartments. Regular jetting and a camera inspection every couple of years keep owners ahead of failures.

The blocks around the old Provo Tabernacle, now the city's second temple, and the Maeser School district have brick bungalows and Victorians built by early settlers' children and grandchildren. Many families have lived in these homes for decades, and their clay laterals have been cleared repeatedly. A liner is often the most practical way to stop the cycle without disturbing mature landscaping.

BYU's fall semester start in late August and winter semester start in January bring thousands of students into rentals at once. Homes that sat half-empty over the break suddenly have every shower, toilet and washer running. Partial clogs left from the previous semester often become full backups in the first week. A jetting during turnover is inexpensive compared with an emergency call.

Provo has many young families with several small children, and diapers, wipes and toys find their way into toilets regularly. Keeping a lidded trash can in every bathroom and teaching kids what can be flushed prevents most of those calls.

Share the neighborhood, the home's age, how many units are in the house and whether there's a basement apartment. Mention whether it's been very cold.