Main sewer line cleaning in NYC

Signs your main sewer line is clogged

The main sewer line, sometimes called the house drain or building sewer, collects every drain in the building and carries it to the city sewer. When it clogs, the water has nowhere to go but back up through the lowest openings.

• Water or sewage comes up through a basement floor drain.
• The toilet bubbles or rises when the washing machine drains.
• The tub fills with dirty water when someone flushes upstairs.
• Every drain in the house is slow at the same time.
• There’s a sewer smell near the cleanout or floor drain.
• The backup gets worse during heavy rain.

What to do right now: stop all water use in the building. Every flush, shower and dishwasher cycle adds to the backup. Then call. More in sewer backing up.

How we clear a main sewer line

1. Find the access point. In most NYC buildings that’s the house trap near the front wall, a cleanout in the basement, or an outside areaway or yard cleanout.
2. Clear the line. A heavy-duty sewer machine with cutting blades sized to the pipe runs from the cleanout toward the street until the blockage breaks free and water drains.
3. Flow-test it. We run water from upstairs fixtures to confirm the whole system drains.
4. Run the camera. A camera goes down the cleared line so you can see what caused the clog and whether anything else is wrong, like roots, a sag or a crack.
5. Recommend next steps. If the line is sound and clean, you’re done. If it’s full of grease or roots, we price hydro jetting before doing anything else.

Main line clearing vs hydro jetting

	Main line clearing	Hydro jetting
How it works	Rotating cutting blades open the line	High-pressure water scours the full pipe wall
Best for	Sudden blockages from wipes, paper, debris	Grease, roots, scale, repeat backups
How long it lasts	Until buildup or roots return	Much longer, because the wall is cleaned
Price	Starting at $595 with camera	Starting at $895 residential, $1,200 commercial

Main sewer lines in NYC buildings

• Brownstones and rowhouses: the main runs through a house trap near the front wall. Traps clog with paper and wipes and are the first place we check.
• Two-family and multifamily houses: one main serves several units, so one tenant’s wipes can back up everyone’s basement.
• Houses with trees out front: roots find joints in older clay and cast iron mains. See tree roots in the sewer line.
• Low-lying blocks: NYC’s combined sewers carry rainwater and sewage together in much of the city. A line that’s already partly blocked backs up faster during storms.

What’s included

• Clearing through an accessible cleanout or house trap
• A flow test from upstairs fixtures
• A camera check of the cleared line
• A plain explanation of what caused the backup

If there’s no accessible cleanout, or the line needs jetting, you get the price before we continue.

What causes main line clogs in NYC

1. Wipes and paper towels. They don’t break down like toilet paper and they snag at the house trap and at joints.
2. Grease. Kitchen grease cools and hardens along the main, especially in multifamily buildings where several kitchens drain into one line.
3. Tree roots. Street and yard trees grow into joints in older clay and cast iron lines. See tree roots in the sewer line.
4. Sags and offset joints. Low spots and misaligned joints in older lines collect debris until it blocks. A camera inspection shows them.
5. Renovation debris. Grout, plaster and construction dust washed down a drain settle in the main.
6. Heavy rain. In much of NYC, rain and sewage share the street sewer. When it fills up in a storm, a line that’s already partly blocked backs up first.

Your line or the city’s?

In NYC, the property owner is generally responsible for the sewer line from the building out to the connection with the city sewer, including the part under the sidewalk and street. If several buildings on your block are backing up at the same time, or the camera shows your line is clear all the way out, the problem may be in the city sewer, and you should report it to 311. More in who owns the sewer line in NYC.

What changes the price

Main line clearing starts at $595 with a camera check included. The technician confirms your price on site before any work starts. Things that can change it:

• Access. An accessible cleanout or house trap keeps the job simple. No cleanout means more work to reach the line.
• Length of the run. Long laterals to the street take longer to clear.
• What’s in the line. Heavy grease or roots may call for hydro jetting, starting at $895 residential.
• Timing. Nights, weekends and holidays add $150.

Keep the main line flowing

Building type	What to do
House or brownstone	No wipes, a strainer in the kitchen sink, and a camera check every few years on older lines
Two- to six-family	Tell every tenant: no wipes, no grease. Consider yearly jetting if the main backs up more than once a year
House with big trees out front	Root jetting every one to two years, based on what the camera shows
Apartment building	Scheduled jetting of the main and kitchen stacks. See property managers
Restaurant	Scheduled grease line jetting. See restaurants