24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Springfield, MO

Midtown, Rountree, Phelps Grove and the neighborhoods around Commercial Street and downtown have homes from the 1880s through the 1930s, with basements or crawlspaces and clay laterals.

The neighborhoods around Missouri State University have many older homes and bungalows rented to students.

South Springfield and the east side filled in from the 1950s through the 1980s with ranches and split-levels.

Southeast Springfield and the suburbs of Nixa, Ozark and Republic grew from the 1990s onward with newer homes.

Springfield sits on karst limestone full of caves, springs and sinkholes.

City Utilities provides water, while the City of Springfield's Environmental Services department runs the sewer system and its treatment plants. Springfield homeowners maintain the private lateral up to the public sewer.

Spring storms dump heavy rain on the Ozarks, soaking the ground and opening sinkholes, and roots grow fastest in summer.

Winter ice storms and cold snaps freeze pipes in crawlspaces and garages.

Springfield sits on the Springfield Plateau, where limestone bedrock has been dissolved by water into caves, springs and sinkholes. The city has thousands of sinkholes, and new ones open after heavy rain. When the ground collapses under a sewer lateral, the pipe can sag or break. Digging in the rocky soil is also hard, so trenchless repairs are popular.

Rountree and Phelps Grove, near Missouri State, are leafy neighborhoods of bungalows, foursquares and Tudors from the early twentieth century. Clay laterals under big trees fill with roots, and many homes are rented to students.

Midtown, north of downtown, has Victorian homes from Springfield's railroad boom, and Commercial Street, the old railroad district, has been revived with shops and restaurants. Old laterals and cast iron are common, and some homes have no cleanout.

Missouri State University and Drury University are surrounded by older homes rented to students. Several tenants per house means a lot of hair, grease and wipes in old laterals. A summer jetting before leases turn over prevents many fall calls.

In April, after a week of storms, a family in a 1925 bungalow in Rountree finds the basement floor drain backing up. The plumber opens the cleanout and clears roots about thirty feet out, then sees on the camera that a section near the street has dropped where the ground beneath has settled. They schedule a spot repair.

Springfield grew after World War II along Route 66 and Glenstone Avenue, with ranches and split-levels for families working at Kraft, 3M and the railroads. Those homes are now sixty to seventy years old, and their cast iron and clay lines show it, with scale on the inside and roots at the joints.

Southeast Springfield and the suburbs of Nixa, Ozark and Republic have grown since the 1990s with newer homes and PVC drains. Grease, wipes and toys cause most of their clogs.

Water that sinks into Springfield's karst emerges in springs and creeks like Jordan Creek and Wilson's Creek. Heavy rain raises groundwater quickly, and cracked laterals take it in. Low areas near the creeks see the most infiltration.

Springfield is the home of Springfield-style cashew chicken, and its Chinese restaurants, barbecue joints and the busy corridors along Glenstone, Battlefield and Campbell fry a lot of food. Fryers run all day in those kitchens, and the ones that never close for a backup are the ones that keep their grease traps on a strict pumping calendar.

Springfield gets occasional ice storms, like the 2007 storm that knocked out power for days. Pipes in crawlspaces and garages freeze first. Close foundation vents and leave a tap trickling during a freeze.

Homes with a laundry in an attached garage should keep the garage door shut and consider a small heater when a hard freeze is forecast.

Springfield homes vary, with some on full basements and others on crawlspaces. In rocky ground, basements were sometimes dug shallow. A plumber can check basement and crawlspace lines while clearing the main.

North Springfield, around Doling Park and the old Frisco railroad shops, grew in the early 1900s with modest homes for railroad workers. When the Frisco was the city's biggest employer, these neighborhoods were packed with families. Today many homes are rentals, and their clay laterals have been cleared many times but rarely replaced. Roots, cracked joints and the occasional collapsed section turn up on camera, and some homes have no cleanout at all.

Springfield's limestone is often just a few feet down, and in some neighborhoods it sits right at the surface. Sewer laterals were laid in shallow trenches or chiseled into rock. When a repair requires digging, crews may need to break rock, which adds time and cost. Lining and pipe bursting work inside the existing path and avoid most of that work.

The Ozarks get some of their heaviest rain in spring, and storms can drop several inches in a day. Water pours into sinkholes and creeks, groundwater rises quickly and cracked laterals take it in. Downspouts tied into the sewer add more. Rerouting them to the yard and sealing cracks reduce backups during storm season.

Share the neighborhood, the home's age, whether it's a student rental and whether the yard has any sinking spots. Mention big trees near the line.