24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Wichita, KS

College Hill, Riverside, Midtown and the neighborhoods around downtown have homes from the 1880s through the 1930s, many with basements and clay laterals.

Planeview, Hilltop and many south and east side neighborhoods were built during and after World War II for aircraft workers, often quickly, with modest homes on slabs or crawlspaces.

East Wichita and the northwest filled in from the 1950s through the 1980s with ranches and split-levels.

Newer subdivisions on the far east and west sides have grown since the 1990s.

Wichita sits on clay soils along the Arkansas River, with hot summers, cold winters and spring storms.

Wichita's Public Works and Utilities department runs the city sewer system and treatment plants. Homeowners in Wichita are responsible for the private sewer service line from the house to the main.

Spring storms soak the clay soil and push water into cracked laterals, and summer heat and drought drive roots toward water.

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

During World War II, Wichita's aircraft plants employed tens of thousands of workers, and the government and builders rushed to house them. Planeview, built near the Boeing plant, was one of the largest wartime housing projects in the country. Hilltop and many south and east side neighborhoods followed. Those homes were built fast and inexpensively, often with cast iron or clay sewer lines that are now worn out. Scale, cracks and roots are common.

College Hill, east of downtown, has Craftsman homes, Tudors and Prairie-style houses from the 1910s through the 1930s on tree-lined streets. Clay laterals under big elms and oaks fill with roots, and many homes have basements.

Riverside, along the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers near the Keeper of the Plains, has older homes on leafy streets near the river. Higher groundwater near the rivers adds to the strain on old clay laterals.

Wichita's clay soils shrink and crack in hot, dry summers and swell in wet springs. That movement shifts foundations and sewer lines, cracking joints and creating sags. Watering around the foundation in drought helps stabilize the soil.

In August, after weeks without rain, a family in a 1952 home in the Hilltop area notices every drain in the house slowing down. The plumber opens the yard cleanout and clears scale and roots, then finds on the camera that the cast iron under the house has cracked where the soil shifted. They plan a liner.

East Wichita grew from the 1950s through the 1980s with ranches and split-levels for aircraft engineers and managers. Their seventy-year-old cast iron and clay pipe is due for attention. Many homes have basements, where floor drains show backups first.

Wichita's spring storms can drop heavy rain quickly. Saturated clay pushes water into cracked laterals, and low areas near the rivers and the Big Ditch flood channel see more infiltration.

Newer subdivisions on the far east and west sides have PVC drains that hold up well in clay. Most clogs there come from grease, wipes or a toy in a toilet.

Douglas Avenue, Old Town and the busy corridors along Rock Road and West Kellogg have many restaurants, including Wichita's well-known Lebanese and Vietnamese restaurants. Kitchens there avoid backups by pumping interceptors on schedule.

Wichita winters bring cold snaps and ice storms, and the February 2021 freeze burst pipes across the city. A washer drain on a garage wall or a crawlspace line under the bathroom is the usual first casualty. Open cabinet doors on outside walls and leave a tap trickling during deep cold.

Homes built quickly during the war often have little insulation in exterior walls, so pipes in those walls are especially vulnerable.

Neighborhoods near Wichita State University have many homes rented to students. Shocker move-in week in August is when many of those lines finally give up.

Delano, just west of the Arkansas River from downtown, began as a rowdy cattle-town district in the 1870s and is now a revived neighborhood of shops, restaurants and older homes. Its houses, many from the early 1900s, sit on clay soil near the river with old laterals that have shifted over the decades. Big trees along the side streets add roots to the mix. When a Delano home's line keeps clogging in the same spot, the camera usually shows an offset joint where the clay has moved.

Many of Wichita's wartime and postwar homes sit on crawlspaces or slabs rather than basements. On a slab, cast iron runs under the concrete, and repairs may mean tunneling or cutting the floor, so lining is often the preferred fix. On a crawlspace, drain lines hang from the floor joists and can sag or leak as the ground moves. Either way, slow drains throughout the house are a sign to have the lines checked.

Share the neighborhood, the home's age, whether it has a basement, crawlspace or slab and whether it's been very dry or wet. Mention big trees near the line.