24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Salem, OR

The neighborhoods around the Capitol and Willamette University, including Grant, Court-Chemeketa and the Northeast Neighbors area, have homes from the 1880s through the 1930s, many on crawlspaces or basements with clay laterals.

South Salem, Fairmount Hill and Candalaria have homes from the 1910s through the 1960s, some on hilly, wooded lots.

Neighborhoods built from the 1950s through the 1980s in northeast Salem, Keizer's edges and east Salem have ranches and split-levels, many on crawlspaces.

West Salem, across the Willamette, has a mix of older homes and newer hillside subdivisions.

Salem sits on heavy clay soils with a long wet season from October through May.

The City of Salem Public Works Department runs the sewer system and the Willow Lake Water Pollution Control Facility. Salem homeowners own and maintain the private lateral to the city main.

From October through May, rain saturates the clay soil and pushes water into cracked laterals, and roots grow fastest in spring.

Ice storms and occasional freezes can freeze crawlspace and garage pipes.

Salem's oldest neighborhoods, near the Capitol, Willamette University and downtown, have Victorian and Craftsman homes on tree-lined streets. Grant and Court-Chemeketa are historic districts with homes from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Clay laterals under big street trees are often original, and roots are the leading cause of backups.

The mid-Willamette Valley's heavy clay soils hold water through the long rainy season. Cracked laterals take in groundwater, and drains slow down during wet weeks. Sealing cracks and keeping downspouts out of the sewer reduce the load.

Fairmount Hill and South Salem have homes from the 1910s through the 1960s on sloping, wooded lots. Long laterals running downhill under big oaks and firs fill with roots, and steep runs can leave solids behind.

In November, a family in a 1922 bungalow in the Grant neighborhood finds the bathtub filling with dirty water when the washer drains. The plumber opens the outside cleanout and clears roots about thirty feet out, near a big maple. On the camera, clay joints have cracked and let in groundwater. They plan a liner.

Many Salem homes sit on crawlspaces, and the wet climate keeps them damp. Drain lines under the floor can leak, sag or separate. A musty smell or wet soil under the house is a sign to have them checked.

Northeast and east Salem filled in from the 1950s through the 1980s with ranches and split-levels. Cast iron and concrete laterals from that era are aging, with scale, cracks and roots common.

West Salem, across the Willamette, has older homes near the river and newer hillside subdivisions. Hillside lots have steep laterals, and some homes below the street rely on pumps.

Many Salem residents work for the state, and busy households mean a lot of cooking and laundry. Grease and wipes cause most clogs in newer homes.

Downtown Salem's restaurants and the corridors along Lancaster Drive and Commercial Street have many kitchens. Interceptors pumped on schedule keep them from backing up.

Salem gets occasional ice storms that knock out power and freeze pipes in crawlspaces and garages. Close crawlspace vents during cold snaps and let a faucet drip.

Willamette University sits next to the Capitol, and older homes nearby are often rented to students and young state workers. Heavy use through old clay laterals means more clogs, especially at the start of each semester.

A camera inspection between tenants is a cheap way for owners to catch roots before they block the line.

Mill Creek, Pringle Creek and Shelton Ditch run through central Salem, and the neighborhoods near them sit on lower ground. Heavy rain raises groundwater there, and the 1996 flood swamped parts of the city. Cracked laterals near the creeks take in more water during wet spells.

Many older Salem homes were built with roof downspouts and foundation footing drains tied directly into the sewer lateral. In a city that sees months of steady rain, that sends a lot of clean water into the sanitary system and can overload a lateral that's already narrowed by roots. Rerouting downspouts to splash blocks or rain gardens, and sending footing drains to a sump instead of the sewer, takes a real load off the line.

North of downtown, Salem blends into Keizer, with neighborhoods of ranches and split-levels built from the 1960s through the 1980s for families who worked at the state, the canneries and the food processing plants along the river. Many of those homes sit on crawlspaces, with concrete or early plastic laterals now forty to sixty years old. Roots and offset joints are common, and some homes still have the original cast iron under the floor.

Salem is surrounded by farmland, orchards and hazelnut groves, and some properties on the edges of the city and in unincorporated Marion and Polk counties still use septic systems. In the heavy valley clay, drain fields can saturate for weeks in winter, and a slow drain on septic often means a full tank or a waterlogged field rather than a clog. If your home isn't on city sewer, tell the plumber.

Share the neighborhood, the home's age, whether it's on a crawlspace or basement and whether the lot is hilly. Say whether any big oaks or maples stand near the line and whether the trouble started during a wet stretch.