Drain Cleaning and Sewer Line Help in Salt Lake City
One slow sink is a local clog. Three slow drains and a toilet that gurgles when the washer empties is the main line, and on an older Salt Lake lot that usually means roots or a sagging section of the sewer lateral.
Reading the symptoms before anyone arrives
- One fixture slow, everything else fine: the clog is in that fixture’s branch line
- Basement floor drain backing up when the washer drains: the main line is restricted
- Toilet bubbles when a tub drains: air is being pushed through a blocked main
- Slow every spring and fall: roots growing into the lateral as the trees wake up
- Sewer smell in a basement that has not been used: a dry trap, often just needs water
Who owns which part of the sewer
In Salt Lake City the line from your house to the public sewer main, called the lateral, belongs to the property owner. The city's sewer system management plan states that laterals are owned and maintained by individual property owners, and that when a backup is reported the city checks its main first and hands the problem back to the owner if the main is clear. The city's GIS pages include a sewer lateral map, and its locators do not mark private lines.
In practice that means a blocked or broken lateral under your front yard or even under the street is your repair to arrange and pay for. A plumber with a camera can tell you where the problem is before anyone talks about digging. Millcreek, Holladay, South Salt Lake and West Valley City are served by separate sewer districts with their own rules; check with yours.
Tree roots and the older east-side lots
Liberty Wells, Sugar House, Yalecrest and Holladay have old street trees and older sewer laterals, often clay pipe with joints every few feet or cast iron. Roots find the moisture at those joints and grow inside. Cutting them out with a cable machine clears the line, and it will clear it again next year, because the joint is still open.
If the line has to be cleared every year, the honest conversation is about the pipe, not the roots. Options include replacing the failing section, lining the pipe, or replacing the full lateral. A camera inspection after the line is cleared shows which one you are actually looking at.
Snaking, jetting, and the camera
Cable machine
A rotating cable with a cutting head, fed through a cleanout. It is the right tool for most household clogs and for cutting roots. It opens a path through the blockage rather than cleaning the whole pipe wall.
Hydro jetting
High-pressure water that scours the pipe wall. It does a better job on grease in kitchen lines and on heavy scale. It is the wrong tool for a pipe that is already cracked or broken, which is why a camera often goes first.
A recorded camera run
A waterproof camera on a push cable, recorded so you can see it. It shows roots, sags where water sits, cracks, and offset joints, and the locator on the camera head tells the plumber how deep and where the problem is. On an older house it is the best few hundred dollars spent before a big decision, and a sensible check before buying one.
What you can do yourself, and what not to do
A plunger and a hand auger clear most sink and tub clogs. Pull the hair out of tub drains regularly. Keep grease out of the kitchen sink; it sets in the pipe as it cools, especially in a cold basement run in winter.
Be careful with chemical drain openers. They rarely clear a main line, they can damage old pipe and rubber couplings, and the plumber who then has to open the line is working in a pipe full of caustic water. If you have used one, say so when you call.
Costs, roughly
Clearing a single fixture drain is generally the cheaper end of plumbing work, often somewhere around $150 to $350 in Salt Lake. Main line clearing through an accessible cleanout typically runs higher, and a camera inspection is often quoted separately at a few hundred dollars. Lateral repairs vary far too much to range honestly: depth, length, whether it crosses the street, and whether lining is an option all move the number by thousands. Ask for the camera footage with any lateral quote.
Common questions
Who pays for a sewer lateral repair in Salt Lake City?
The property owner. Salt Lake City’s sewer management plan says laterals are owned and maintained by individual property owners. The city maintains the main in the street.
Why does my basement floor drain back up when the washer runs?
The washer sends a large volume of water at once, and if the main line is partly blocked that water has nowhere to go but the lowest opening. It is a main line problem, not a washer problem.
Will cutting out roots fix it for good?
Rarely. Roots grow back through the same open joints. Cutting buys a season; repairing or lining the failing section is what stops it.
Is a sewer camera inspection worth it before buying an older house?
Usually, especially in neighbourhoods with mature trees and pre-1950 houses. Lateral repairs can be expensive, and the inspection costs a few hundred dollars.
Can hydro jetting damage old pipes?
It can make a cracked or badly corroded pipe worse, which is why many plumbers run a camera first on older lines and choose the tool from what they see.
Other plumbing pages for Salt Lake City
- Plumber in Salt Lake City, UT
- Emergency Plumber in Salt Lake City
- Water Heater Repair and Replacement in Salt Lake City
- Water Softener Installation in Salt Lake City
- Burst Pipe Repair and Galvanized Repiping in Salt Lake City
Also serving
Drains & Sewer Lines is available outside Salt Lake City too, across Millcreek , Holladay , South Salt Lake and West Valley City .
Ask about drains & sewer lines
Describe the problem and a local plumbing company will call you to talk it through and arrange a visit as soon as their schedule allows. Answered Mon–Sat, 8am–6pm · ask about after-hours cover when you call You can also call (385) 406-3317. If water is running right now, call rather than typing.