Do these three things before we arrive
Stop using water anywhere in the building.
Every sink, shower, toilet and appliance. Everything that goes in has nowhere to go and comes back out at the lowest opening.
Keep people and pets away from anything that has come up.
Treat standing water from a sewer backup as contaminated, because it is. Do not walk through it and back through the house.
Do not add chemical drain cleaner.
It will not clear a main line, and it makes the water hazardous for anyone who has to work in it, including you.
Emergency Drain Service
What actually counts as an emergency
Not every blocked drain needs somebody tonight. A blocked upstairs bathroom sink in a house with two bathrooms is a nuisance, and it will cost you less on Tuesday morning.
These are the ones that do not wait:
Water or waste coming up through a floor drain, a shower or a ground floor toilet. Every drain in the house stopped at once. A sewer smell with water appearing somewhere it should not be. A blocked line in a building with one bathroom and people who have to sleep in it. A commercial kitchen that cannot open.
The reason those are different is that they get worse while nothing is being done, and the cost moves from the pipe to the building. A restricted main line with a household still using water is filling up. Every load of washing is going into a pipe that cannot take it. At some point the lowest opening in the building becomes the overflow, and then the problem is flooring and drywall rather than a drain.
That is why the first thing we say on the phone is to stop using water. It costs nothing and it buys real time.
What we find
The calls that come ahead of scheduled work
Active sewage backups
Waste coming up at the lowest fixture or floor drain. The main line is restricted and the house is still producing water. This is the one that damages buildings.
Whole house stoppages
Nothing draining anywhere. Usually the main line, occasionally a collapsed section, and on rural properties sometimes the run to the tank rather than the tank itself.
Commercial shutdowns
A kitchen, cafe or salon that cannot legally or practically operate with the drains down. Different urgency, different working hours, and usually different access.
On the day
What an emergency visit includes
A useful phone conversation first.
What is happening, where, and what to stop doing right now. Some of the damage is prevented before anyone drives anywhere.
Clearing the line so the building works.
That is the priority. Diagnosis matters, but not ahead of getting waste flowing away from the house.
A camera run once it is flowing.
Because a main line that backed up once will very often back up again, and this is when we find out why.
A straight answer about the water on the floor.
We clear drains, we are not a restoration company. We will tell you plainly what needs a restoration contractor rather than pretending otherwise.
Step by step
How we work
You call and describe it.
Where the water is, which fixtures are affected, and whether it is still rising.
We tell you what to stop doing.
Water off at every fixture, people and pets away from the affected area, no chemicals.
We come ahead of scheduled work.
Active backups take priority over routine visits. We will tell you honestly when we can be there rather than give you a number designed to make you stop calling around.
We get flow back first.
Access at the cleanout, the right cutter for what is in the line, and the full run cleared rather than a channel opened.
We camera the line.
Recorded, with the distance on screen. On an emergency call this is how you find out whether tonight was an event or a symptom.
We tell you what happens next.
Including whether the building needs a restoration contractor, and including the times when the honest answer is that the line is fine and something needs to stop going down it.
Why us
Why call us for this
Emergencies actually come first
It is easy to say and harder to schedule. It works because we only do drain and sewer work, so there is no half finished remodel holding the van somewhere else.
We tell you what to do before we get there
The phone call is part of the job. Stopping water use early has saved more flooring than any machine we own.
We film it while we are there
A backup that gets cleared and never looked at is a backup that comes back. The camera run happens on the same visit.
We do not use an emergency to sell a replacement
Standing in a flooded basement is the worst possible moment to be asked for a decision about a full lateral. We clear it, we film it, and the conversation about repair happens when you can think.
Reviews
What our customers say
We have not collected any reviews yet. When we do they will appear here in full, in the customer's own words.
Questions
Emergency drain questions
What should I do while I wait for a plumber?
Stop using water anywhere in the building, keep people and pets away from anything that has come up, and do not pour anything down the drain. If there is a cleanout outside and waste is escaping from it, that is the pressure relieving away from the house, which is better than the alternative. Leave it alone.
Is a sewer backup dangerous?
Treat it as contaminated. Avoid contact, keep children and pets out of the area, ventilate, and wash thoroughly if you do touch it. Anything porous that has been soaked, including carpet and drywall, usually needs professional attention rather than a mop.
How quickly can you get here?
It depends on where you are in the county and what is already running. Point Roberts and the far east of the county take longer than Bellingham, and we will tell you the truth about it rather than a number that sounds good on the phone. Active backups come ahead of scheduled work.
Do you charge more for emergency calls?
Out of hours work costs more than a scheduled visit, and you get the number before we start. What we will not do is decide the price after seeing how worried you are.
Why did my sewer back up with no warning?
Usually there was warning and it was quiet. Slow drains, an occasional gurgle when a fixture empties, a smell that came and went. A line restricts gradually and then fails suddenly when demand meets the narrowest point. The camera run afterwards normally shows exactly where it had been narrowing.
My drains backed up after heavy rain. Is that related?
It can be. Groundwater infiltrating a cracked line adds volume the pipe was not sized for, and around Sumas, Everson and the Nooksack floodplain the winter water table alone can do it. A camera run will show whether water is entering through a defect, which is a fixable problem rather than a seasonal fact of life.
Where we do this work
Anywhere else in Whatcom County, call and ask.
Tell us the symptoms