Drain cleaning in NYC, 24/7

When to call for drain cleaning

Most clogs give you a warning before they stop a drain completely. Call when you notice any of these:

• Water stands in the sink, tub or shower long after you turn off the tap.
• A drain gurgles when another fixture drains or the toilet flushes.
• The toilet bowl rises close to the rim before it slowly drops.
• A basement or laundry floor drain has water around it.
• The same drain clogs again within weeks of the last clearing.
• There’s a sewage smell near a drain that won’t go away.

If more than one fixture is acting up at the same time, read main line clogs first. That’s a different job from a single drain.

How we clear a clogged drain, step by step

1. You call or text. Tell us which drain, what kind of building and how bad it is. A photo helps.
2. The technician looks at the job and confirms your price. Nothing starts until you say yes.
3. We protect the area. Drop cloths go down and cabinets are emptied before the machine comes out.
4. We pick the right access point. That might be the drain opening, a trap, the tub overflow or a cleanout. The right access point means less mess and a cleaner result.
5. We clear the line. A powered cable machine with a cutting head opens the blockage and pulls back what’s causing it.
6. We flow-test it. We run water at full volume for several minutes so you can see the drain is open, not just partially cleared.
7. We tell you what caused it. If we pulled out grease, wipes, hair or roots, we show you and explain how to keep it from coming back.

Snaking vs hydro jetting vs camera

Most single-drain clogs need nothing more than cabling, also called drain snaking. Recurring clogs and main lines often need more.

Method	What it does	Best for	Starting price
Cable machine (snaking)	Cuts a path through the clog and pulls debris back	Single fixture clogs, hair, paper, small grease plugs	Starting at $325
Hydro jetting	Scours the full pipe wall with high-pressure water	Grease buildup, roots, recurring clogs, main lines	Starting at $895
Camera inspection	Records the inside of the line so you see the cause	Repeat problems, before buying a home, before any digging	Starting at $495

Read more in snaking vs hydro jetting.

Drains we clear

We clear every common drain in NYC homes and buildings:

• Kitchen sink drains, including double sinks clogged on both sides
• Toilets, tubs and showers
• Basement, laundry and garage floor drains
• Washing machine and utility sink lines
• Kitchen and bathroom stacks in apartment buildings
• Roof drains and leader lines
• Yard drains, areaway drains and catch basins
• House traps and building main lines

Drain cleaning in NYC buildings

NYC drains clog differently from suburban ones. Prewar co-ops share kitchen stacks across a dozen apartments, so one unit’s grease becomes the whole line’s problem. Brownstones and rowhouses run their main through a house trap near the front wall. Queens and Staten Island houses have longer runs under yards and trees. We plan around building access, freight elevators and super schedules on the first call so the technician arrives ready.

See how we work in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.

What’s included

• Cabling the line to clear the blockage
• A full flow test before the technician leaves
• A plain explanation of what caused the clog

Nights, weekends and holidays add $150. If the line needs a camera inspection or hydro jetting, we price it before we continue. There are no surprise add-ons.

What we pull out of NYC drains

What we find	Where it shows up	What usually fixes it
Grease and food	Kitchen sinks, dishwasher lines, building kitchen stacks	Cabling, then hydro jetting if it keeps coming back
Hair and soap	Tubs, showers, bathroom sinks	Cabling the trap and branch line
Paper and wipes	Toilets, the house trap, main lines	Cabling, and no more wipes
Lint	Laundry sinks and floor drains	Cabling, plus a lint trap on the washer hose
Silt and sand	Basement, garage and outdoor drains	Cabling or jetting, then cleaning the drain body
Scale on old cast iron	Older buildings across the city	Jetting, with a camera check first
Tree roots	Main lines under yards and sidewalks	Root jetting on a schedule

Before the technician arrives

A few minutes of prep makes the job faster and keeps your home cleaner:

1. Stop using the drain and anything that drains into it. If more than one fixture is backing up, stop all water use in the building.
2. Clear the area. Empty the cabinet under the sink, move bath mats and anything stored near a floor drain.
3. Find the cleanout if you can. In houses it’s usually in the basement or near the front wall. In apartment buildings, the super will know.
4. Tell us about chemicals. If anyone poured drain cleaner in, tell the technician before work starts.
5. Have building access sorted. Doorman, service entrance or super contact, so nobody waits in the lobby.

Keep your drains clear

• Wipe grease out of pans with a paper towel before washing them.
• Use a strainer in the kitchen sink and a hair catcher in every tub and shower.
• Only toilet paper goes in the toilet. “Flushable” wipes are one of the most common things we pull out of NYC lines.
• Run hot water for a minute after washing dishes to keep grease moving.
• Skip chemical drain openers. They rarely clear the clog and can damage older pipes and fixtures.
• If the same drain clogs more than twice a year, get a camera inspection to find out why.

One drain or the whole building?

What you notice	Most likely	Who to call
One sink, tub or toilet slow or stopped	That fixture’s trap or branch line	Us, single drain starting at $325
Two or more fixtures at once	The main sewer line	Us, main line starting at $595
Water coming up through the basement floor drain	The main line or house trap	Us, right away
Your sink backs up when a neighbor uses theirs	The shared building stack	Your super, and we work with the building
Several buildings on the block backing up	The city sewer	311