Drain Cleaning in Cuyahoga Falls

Drain cleaning is one of the calls we get most in Cuyahoga Falls. Most are a single slow fixture: a kitchen sink full of grease, a tub drain packed with hair, a toilet that will not flush clear. Others are the main line, where every drain in the house slows down and the basement floor drain is the first to back up.

We clear the line, then run water long enough to confirm it carries away freely. When a drain has clogged more than once, we look for the reason, because a clog that keeps returning usually has a cause in the pipe itself.

Drains, What Clogs Them and How They Are Cleared

Drain types, common causes and typical clearing methods

Drain	Common causes	Typical method
Kitchen sink	Grease, food scraps, coffee grounds, disposal sludge	Cable through the trap arm; jetting when grease coats the line
Bathroom sink	Hair, soap and toothpaste caught on the pop-up stopper	Clean the stopper and trap; small hand cable
Tub or shower	Hair and soap scum in the trap and drain body	Cable through the overflow or drain; trap cleaned
Toilet	Wipes, paper towels, toys, too much paper at once	Closet auger; toilet pulled if the object is lodged
Basement floor drain	Laundry lint, sediment, or a main line backing up	Cable, then a camera if it backs up when laundry runs
Laundry standpipe	Lint and fabric fibers, an undersized drain	Cable; check the pipe size and venting
Main line	Roots at old joints, sagging pipe, grease buildup	Large cable machine, jetting, camera inspection

Snaking vs Hydro-Jetting

Both clear a blocked line. They differ in what they leave behind.

Signs the Clog Is in the Main Line

One slow drain is usually its own problem. These signs point past the fixture to the main line or the sewer lateral:

• More than one fixture is slow at the same time, especially on the lowest floor.
• The basement floor drain backs up when the washer drains or a toilet flushes.
• Water rises in the tub when you flush the toilet.
• Toilets and drains gurgle when water runs somewhere else in the house.
• A sewage smell comes up from the floor drain or the cleanout.
• Plunging one fixture makes water come up in another.

In older Cuyahoga Falls neighborhoods, mature maples and oaks along the street send roots into clay and cast iron sewer joints, and a main line that backs up every year or two often has roots growing at one of them; a camera inspection of the sewer line shows which.

What Not to Pour Down a Drain

• Cooking grease, bacon fat and oil, even when hot and liquid.
• Coffee grounds and eggshells.
• Rice, pasta and potato peels, which swell and pack in the trap.
• Flushable wipes, paper towels and cotton swabs (in a toilet, only toilet paper).
• Paint, joint compound and grout rinse water.
• Chemical drain openers.

Drain Questions