24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in St. Louis, MO

Soulard, Lafayette Square, Benton Park, Compton Heights and the Central West End have brick homes from the 1850s through the 1910s, with basements and clay laterals.

South City neighborhoods like Tower Grove South, Bevo Mill, Dutchtown and the Hill are full of brick two-family flats and bungalows from the 1900s through the 1940s.

North City neighborhoods like Hyde Park, the Ville and Fairground have brick homes and flats from the 1880s through the 1920s, many affected by vacancy.

St. Louis County suburbs grew from the 1940s onward with ranches and split-levels.

MSD Project Clear is a multi-billion dollar program to reduce overflows and basement backups across the region.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District runs sewers for the city and most of St. Louis County. Property owners own and maintain the private lateral from the house to the public sewer.

Spring and summer thunderstorms flood basements across the older city, and roots grow fastest in summer heat.

Winter cold snaps freeze pipes in unheated basements, back porches and exterior walls.

After the 1849 fire, St. Louis required brick construction, and its clay deposits fueled a huge brickmaking industry. The result is a city of solid brick homes and flats that have stood for more than a century. Their laterals, mostly clay, haven't fared as well. Roots, cracks and sags are the usual findings when a camera goes in.

South City is full of two-family flats, brick buildings with one apartment on each floor sharing a basement and lateral. When the lateral clogs, water from upstairs comes out the basement floor drain or the first-floor tub. Many flats have been converted to single-family homes, but the lateral is often original.

Many St. Louis neighborhoods have alleys behind the homes, and in some blocks the sewer runs in the alley rather than the street. The lateral exits the rear basement wall and runs under the back yard. Knowing which way your line runs helps the plumber find the cleanout.

Much of St. Louis has combined sewers that overflow into the Mississippi and River des Peres during heavy rain, and basement backups have long been a problem. MSD Project Clear is building tunnels and storage, including the Deer Creek and Lower Meramec tunnels, to reduce overflows. Backwater valves and disconnected downspouts help protect homes.

After a June storm, the first-floor tenant in a 1915 brick flat in Tower Grove South finds water around the basement floor drain. The owner calls a plumber, who opens the cleanout on the rear basement wall and clears roots from a big silver maple in the back yard about thirty feet toward the alley. On the camera, the clay has separated at a joint. The owner prices a liner.

Tower Grove South, Shaw and Compton Heights have brick homes on tree-lined streets near Tower Grove Park and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Big trees and clay laterals mean roots.

North City neighborhoods have beautiful brick homes, many affected by decades of vacancy. Vacant buildings' laterals can fill with roots or collapse. Before closing on, or gutting, a long-vacant North City brick, put a camera down the lateral; it is often the most expensive surprise in the building.

The Hill, St. Louis's Italian neighborhood, has small brick homes and famous restaurants. South Grand, Soulard and the Central West End add many more kitchens. Restaurants there must pump grease traps on a regular schedule, especially before Cardinals home stands and Mardi Gras in Soulard.

St. Louis winters bring cold snaps that can drop below zero. Pipes in unheated basements, back porches and exterior walls freeze first. Heat the basement and insulate exposed pipe.

Brick walls hold cold well, and pipes running along the inside of an exterior brick wall can freeze even in a heated room.

Suburbs across St. Louis County grew from the 1940s onward with ranches and split-levels. Older ones have cast iron and clay laterals now aging, and many have finished basements.

Parts of St. Louis and the county sit on karst limestone with sinkholes. A sinkhole near a lateral can undermine it. A dip in the lawn along the line's route is a reason to call before the pipe gives way.

Soulard, home of the city's oldest farmers market and its huge Mardi Gras celebration, and Lafayette Square, with its painted Victorian townhouses around a park, have some of St. Louis's oldest homes. Many were nearly lost to decline before restoration in the 1970s and 1980s. Restoration often focused on facades and interiors, leaving original clay laterals in the ground. Roots, cracks and sags in those lines are common, and lining is the usual fix in these historic districts.

Say which neighborhood you're in, whether it's a flat or single-family, the building's age and whether the sewer runs to the street or alley. Mention whether a storm came first.