24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Sioux Falls, SD

Cathedral, All Saints, McKennan Park and the neighborhoods near downtown have homes from the 1880s through the 1930s, many with quartzite foundations, basements and clay laterals.

Neighborhoods around Augustana University and Terrace Park have bungalows and foursquares from the 1910s through the 1940s.

The central and east sides filled in from the 1950s through the 1970s with ranches and split-levels.

Sioux Falls has grown rapidly since the 1990s, with new subdivisions spreading south, east and west.

The city sits along the Big Sioux River on clay and glacial soils, with brutal winters and spring floods.

The City of Sioux Falls Public Works department runs the sewer system and water reclamation facility. Sioux Falls homeowners are responsible for the sewer service line from the house to the city main.

Spring thaw and rains raise the Big Sioux and groundwater, and summer brings fast root growth.

Winters bring weeks below zero, frost several feet deep and frozen pipes and service lines.

Sioux Falls's pink quartzite, quarried nearby, built the old courthouse, churches and many foundations in the Cathedral and All Saints neighborhoods. Homes there date from the 1880s through the 1920s, with basements and clay laterals under big trees. Roots and cracks are the usual findings, and lining protects historic yards.

Sioux Falls winters are long and harsh, with weeks below zero and wind chills far lower. Frost drives deep into the ground, especially under plowed driveways and sidewalks, and shallow service lines can freeze. Garage laundries, porch plumbing and pipes in north-facing walls are the first to go. Thawing a frozen Sioux Falls service line takes a steam or hot-water jetter, and patience.

McKennan Park, one of the city's most desirable neighborhoods, has bungalows and period revival homes on streets shaded by big elms and maples. Clay laterals and roots go together here.

In February, after a week below minus fifteen, a family in a 1920s bungalow near McKennan Park finds water backing up in the basement floor drain. The plumber finds the service line frozen under the driveway, thaws it with steam and then sees roots at a cracked joint on the camera. Come April, they'll add foam board over the line under the driveway and have the clay lined.

When the snowpack melts in March and April, the Big Sioux River rises and groundwater climbs. Basements see seepage, sump pumps run constantly and cracked laterals take in water. The city has built flood control along the river, but low neighborhoods still feel the effects.

The central and east sides filled in from the 1950s through the 1970s with ranches and split-levels. Cast iron under basement floors and clay laterals are now aging, with scale and roots common.

Sioux Falls has been one of the fastest-growing cities in the Midwest, with new subdivisions spreading in every direction. Newer PVC lines resist roots, and grease, wipes and sump pump failures cause most problems there.

Most Sioux Falls basements have sump pumps. During spring thaw and heavy rain, they can run for days. Test the pump each spring, and in winter make sure the discharge line doesn't freeze.

Downtown Sioux Falls's Phillips Avenue and the area around Falls Park have a growing restaurant scene. Kitchens there keep interceptors pumped to stay open through busy weekends.

Augustana University and the University of Sioux Falls bring students to older homes nearby. A house full of students moving in at once is often what finally closes a weak old line.

Rental houses near campus that sit empty over winter break are especially prone to frozen pipes if the heat is turned down too far.

Sanford Health and Avera are major employers, and many households work shifts. Night-shift nurses and techs doing laundry at 3 a.m. often discover a partial clog before anyone else in the house.

Many Sioux Falls homes have finished basements, and a backup can be costly. A backwater valve on older lines and a sump pump with a battery backup are worth the investment.

All Saints, named for the old Episcopal school, and the area around the Pettigrew Home and Museum have Queen Anne and Craftsman homes built by the city's early merchants and professionals. Their basements were often dug into rocky glacial soil, and the clay laterals leaving them run under some of the oldest trees in the city. Owners who restore these homes find that the sewer line is often the last original system left. A camera inspection before a remodel helps decide whether to line it while the work is underway.

Many older Sioux Falls homes were built with downspouts and foundation footing drains tied directly into the sewer lateral. During spring thaw and summer storms, that clean water floods into the sanitary sewer and can push a narrowed line into backing up. Rerouting downspouts into the yard and sending footing drains to a sump pump keeps both the basement and the city system drier.

Plains blizzards can knock out power for a day or more in deep cold. A house without heat can freeze its pipes quickly, and a sump pump without power can't move water once the thaw begins. A battery backup for the sump and a plan to drain the plumbing during a long outage are worth having.

Share the neighborhood, the home's age, whether the basement is finished and whether it's been very cold. Mention big trees near the line.