24/7 Drain Cleaning & Sewer Service in Winston-Salem, NC

Old Salem and the West End have homes from the late 1700s through the early 1900s, a few among the oldest in the state, with laterals that have been replaced or patched many times.

Buena Vista, Ardmore and Washington Park were built from the 1910s through the 1940s as R.J. Reynolds and Hanes money spread across the city. Many homes there sit on crawlspaces or basements with clay laterals under oaks and maples.

Postwar neighborhoods like Sherwood Forest, Konnoak Hills and much of the north and east sides went up from the late 1940s through the early 1970s, often with Orangeburg fiber pipe.

Winston-Salem is hilly. Many lots drop steeply from the street, and basements are common, which means floor drains and lower fixtures are the first to back up.

Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem State and the UNC School of the Arts bring thousands of students to rental houses near their campuses every August.

The City/County Utilities of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County provides sewer service. The owner maintains the lateral from the house to the public connection.

Spring and summer storms soak the clay and swell roots. Tropical remnants can drop heavy rain on the hills.

Winter brings occasional snow and ice storms that freeze crawlspace pipes. Basement drains are the first to show trouble in wet seasons, especially in homes on the low side of the street.

Old Salem, the restored Moravian town, and the Victorian West End have some of the oldest homes in the state. Laterals there have been replaced in pieces over the centuries, and a camera may show clay, cast iron and newer pipe in one run. Lining avoids digging in historic yards.

Ardmore and Buena Vista grew with tobacco and hosiery fortunes in the 1920s and 1930s. Bungalows and Tudors there sit under big oaks, and clay laterals beneath them are full of roots. Many homes have basements with floor drains that flood first when the main backs up.

Sherwood Forest, Konnoak Hills, Robinhood Road's side streets and much of the north and east sides were built from the late 1940s through the early 1970s, and builders then often laid Orangeburg, a black fiber pipe soaked in coal tar. After sixty years in wet red clay, it sags into an oval and its inner wall blisters, so paper snags and roots push through the soft spots. A liner needs a sound, round pipe to bond to, so the usual repair is bursting a new pipe through the old one or digging and replacing it.

Winston-Salem's hills give many homes basements and long, steep laterals. A house on the low side of the street may have its basement floor below the public main, so when the main surcharges in a storm, sewage can push back in through the floor drain. A backwater valve on the lateral closes when that happens. On the high side of the street, steep laterals carry water fast but can leave solids behind at a bend or a settled joint near the bottom.

After a rainy week in April, the owners of a 1930 Tudor in Ardmore find water spreading from the basement floor drain. The plumber clears the main from a cleanout in the basement, cutting a dense mass of oak roots, then runs a camera that shows cracked clay joints and a belly under the front lawn. They schedule lining.

Rental houses off Reynolda Road near Wake Forest, around Winston-Salem State on the east side and near the School of the Arts on the south side see heavy use. Older homes there often have clay laterals already full of roots, and five tenants add hair, grease and wipes on top. Owners who jet the main every July and leave hair catchers in each shower avoid most fall emergencies.

Downtown's restaurants and bars along Fourth Street, Trade Street and in the converted R.J. Reynolds tobacco warehouses of the Innovation Quarter sit on old sewer lines. Busy kitchens there need interceptors pumped regularly and lines jetted before festivals and holiday crowds.

Winston-Salem sits higher than Raleigh and Charlotte and gets more snow and ice. A real ice storm can knock out power for days, and crawlspace and basement pipes along exterior walls can freeze. Close crawlspace vents in the fall, insulate exposed pipe and let faucets drip during hard freezes.

Newer neighborhoods toward Clemmons, Lewisville and Kernersville were built from the 1980s onward with PVC drains and cleanouts near the driveway. The pipe rarely fails. Clogs there are about kitchen grease after family dinners, hair in busy showers and wipes, and some homes on larger lots outside the sewer area use septic.

Give your neighborhood and the home's age, whether there's a basement and whether the lot is steep. Mention big trees near the sewer path, whether the trouble started after rain and whether water has come up through the basement floor drain.