Where the blockage is
A branch line under a sink is straightforward. A blockage in the main line, thirty feet out under the lawn, is a different job entirely.
Drain cleaning
Clear the drain, then find out why it blocked
Anyone can push a cable down a pipe until the water moves. The part that matters is what put the blockage there — because if it's grease you'll see us once, and if it's a broken pipe you'll see us every six months until someone tells you the truth.
What the job actually involves
We start by working out where the blockage sits. If one fixture is slow, the problem is that branch. If several fixtures back up together — especially on the lowest floor — it's the main line running out to the street, and that's a different job with different stakes.
Then we clear it. A snake bores through a solid obstruction or a root mass and gets water moving again. What matters as much is being straight with you about what that achieved: on a line narrowed by years of grease, a cable punches a hole through it, and the hole closes again. That is a reprieve, not a repair, and we will say so.
On a line that's blocked more than once, we'll tell you plainly that clearing it again is not the answer. A recurring backup usually means something structural — a cracked section, a sag holding water, roots at a failed joint — and there is no point charging you to clear the same pipe twice a year without saying so.
Signs you need this
- Water draining slower than it used toA sink that takes a few seconds longer this month than last is the earliest warning you get, and the cheapest point to deal with it.
- Two fixtures misbehaving at onceFlush the toilet and the shower gurgles, or run the washing machine and the floor drain rises. That's the main line, not a fixture.
- The same drain blocking againTwice in a year isn't bad luck. Something down there is catching everything that passes, and clearing it again won't change that.
- Sewage smell or water at the floor drainStop running water and call. The basement floor drain is the lowest opening on the line, so it's where everything appears first.
If water is actively backing up into the house right now, this isn't a booking — it's an emergency. Call 437-972-3137 and stop using water everywhere in the house until we get there.
Cost
What moves the price
We won't quote a drain down the phone, because the same symptom can be a twenty-minute job or a dug-up front lawn. These are the things that decide which.
What's causing it
Grease and hair clear with the right tool. Roots come back unless the pipe is repaired. A collapsed section has to be replaced, not cleaned.
Whether there's a cleanout
An accessible cleanout means we go straight in. Without one, access has to be made — usually by pulling a toilet, sometimes more.
How much is in there
A single obstruction clears quickly. A line narrowed along its length takes longer, and may need dealing with properly rather than clearing.
Whether it's a repeat
A first-time clog with an obvious cause is straightforward. One that keeps returning needs the cause dealt with, which is different work.
Time of day
Out-of-hours emergency calls carry a call-out fee. Members don't pay it — that alone is $150 a visit.
You get a price before any work starts, and if we open things up and find something worse, work stops and we talk before the number moves.
Where we do this
Drain cleaning across the areas we cover
The cause changes with the neighbourhood, which is why the local pages are worth a read.
Woodbridge
Root-packed clay laterals in the old village, and floor drains that rise when the sewer surcharges.
Thornhill
Cast iron stacks that have scaled up internally — every floor draining slowly at once.
Maple
Twenty years of grease in a kitchen line narrowed to the width of a pencil.
Questions
About drains and blockages
Do chemical drain cleaners work?
Rarely, and they cost more than they save. Caustic cleaners generate heat and eat whatever they sit against — in an older home that means the pipe as well as the blockage. If the clog does not clear, that chemical is still in the line when a plumber opens it.
Can I clear it myself before calling?
A plunger is worth ten minutes, and on a single slow sink it often works. What is not worth it is chemical cleaner, or forcing a hand auger into a line you cannot see. If two fixtures are affected, or the same drain has blocked before, you are past the point where anything you own will help.
What actually causes most drain blockages?
In kitchens, grease — poured in warm, cooling into a solid layer on the pipe wall. In bathrooms, hair bound with soap scum. In the main line, tree roots or a section that has cracked or sagged. Three different fixes, which is why clearing without diagnosing is half a job.
My toilet and shower back up at the same time. What does that mean?
Two or more fixtures backing up together means the blockage is in the main line rather than one branch. A single slow sink is local. Multiple fixtures on the lowest floor backing up means everything is meeting a restriction on the way out. Stop running water and call.
How often should drains be cleaned?
There is no schedule that fits every house. If nothing has ever backed up, leave it alone. Where a yearly clean pays is on a line with a known history — mature trees over an older clay lateral, or a kitchen line that has clogged before. Better planned than at midnight.
Will snaking damage my pipes?
Not in a sound pipe. In one already cracked, badly corroded, or full of roots at a failed joint, aggressive snaking can make an existing weakness worse. That is why we ask what has been done before, and go carefully in an older home rather than forcing it.
Get it cleared properly
Call for anything urgent, or book online and we'll confirm a window.