Drainage Service in Aurora, CO
Drain cleaning, sewer line repair, and hydro-jetting. Camera inspection on most jobs, same-day service.
In Aurora, a slow drain rarely stays slow. It backs up, and usually at the worst time.
This page covers our drainage and sewer services, the calls tied to clogs, backups, and aging pipe, kept separate from general plumbing repair. Pick the service that matches what's happening, or call if water's already backing up. One local, licensed team handles it, camera inspection included on most jobs, no guessing at what's under the yard.
Drain Cleaning in Aurora
We clear clogged drains in kitchens, bathrooms, and main lines, and run a sewer camera when a clog keeps coming back. Most calls get cleared same visit.
Learn More →Sewer Line Repair in Aurora
When the main sewer line cracks, collapses, or fills with roots, we repair or replace it, including trenchless options that skip digging up the whole yard.
Learn More →Hydro-Jetting in Aurora
For clogs that keep coming back, grease buildup, or tree roots a snake won't clear, we use high-pressure jetting to scour the pipe clean.
Learn More →One thing we see constantly on calls in Aurora's historic core near Colfax and Fletcher: pre-1965 homes are still running original Orangeburg or clay tile sewer laterals, and we assume root intrusion or a bellied pipe on those until the camera proves otherwise.
Sewer backups aren't just inconvenient, they're a real health risk. The EPA tracks sanitary sewer overflows and the bacteria and illness risk they carry, which is part of why we treat a backing-up drain as an emergency call, not a maintenance item to schedule for later.
How We Tell a Simple Clog From a Failing Sewer Lateral
A clog and a failing sewer lateral feel the same at first. Water drains slow, something gurgles, and you reach for the plunger. The difference shows up in how many fixtures are affected and where they sit in the house.
This is the sort we run on almost every call:
- One fixture slow, everything else fine. That is usually a local clog in that fixture's own branch line. Hair, soap scum, grease, or something dropped down the drain.
- Two or more fixtures slow at once. Especially the lowest ones: a basement floor drain, a lower-level shower, the toilet closest to the main. That points to the main line.
- Gurgling in one drain when another runs. Air is getting pushed back because something downstream is restricting the pipe.
- A clog that keeps coming back. If it returns within weeks or months of being cleared, the cause is still in the pipe. The clog was only the symptom.
- A wet or sunken patch in the yard, or a sewer smell outside. That can mean the lateral is cracked, separated, or leaking into the soil.
The cable tells us a lot too. If it runs freely through a branch line and the backup is still there, the problem sits farther down. If it stops at the same spot every time, there is something in the pipe that shouldn't be: a root mass, an offset joint, or a low spot holding waste.
If sewage is coming up in the lowest drain in the house, stop running water. Every sink, shower, and washer in the house feeds that same line. Our guide to the signs your main sewer line is clogged walks through what to watch for.
Why Older Aurora Sewer Laterals Clog
The pipe material tells us a lot before the camera ever goes in. Aurora's older neighborhoods sit on a mix of Orangeburg, vitrified clay, and, in newer builds, PVC. The first two cause most of the repeat clogs we see.
Orangeburg. This is not plastic or clay. It's wood pulp fiber soaked in pitch and rolled into a tube. It was cheap and quick to lay, and it shows up in homes of that era. Over the years it softens and loses its round shape. It can squeeze into an oval, sag into a belly that holds waste, or collapse. How long it lasts varies a lot with soil and moisture, but we assume it in pre-1965 homes near Colfax until the camera says otherwise.
Vitrified clay. Clay is hard and durable, but it comes in short sections, often two to three feet, and every joint is a place for a root to get in. Industry figures put clay sewer pipe at roughly 50 to 60 years, which puts a lot of 1970s lines at or near the end of that range. Aurora's soil moves with moisture and Colorado freeze-thaw adds more movement. Joints that were tight when the pipe was new can shift, and that's how offsets and bellies form.
Roots. A root only needs a hairline gap. It follows the moisture leaking from the joint, grows into a mass, and then catches paper and grease until the line narrows. Cottonwoods and silver maples are the usual suspects here, and a front-yard tree can reach a lateral buried out by the street. Our post on roots in clay sewer pipes covers the warning signs.
Inside the house it's often the same story on a smaller scale. Hard water scale and grease coat the walls of older branch lines and shrink the opening, so a line that handled a family fine for years starts catching everything.
What a Camera Inspection Shows and Which Tool We Pick
A camera head on a flexible cable goes in through the cleanout, and the monitor shows the inside of the pipe live. We look for roots, cracked or offset joints, scale, grease, standing water in a low spot, and anything collapsed. You can watch the screen with us. That footage is how we decide what the line needs, and it's why we don't guess.
On its own a camera inspection typically runs $150 to $250, and it's often included with a main-line cleaning package.
Then comes the tool choice.
- Cable (drain snaking). A rotating blade cuts through a root mass or punches through a blockage. It works well for a single clog or soft grease and gets water moving fast. On a main line it typically runs $250 to $500. Relief can last a few months if roots are the cause.
- Hydro-jetting. High-pressure water scours the whole pipe wall and clears grease, scale, and roots. It typically runs $400 to $750 on a main line, and results often last 1 to 3 years. We pick it for repeat clogs, heavy grease, and root-heavy lines.
We run the camera first because jetting a collapsed or badly offset pipe can do harm, and older clay needs lower pressure and a careful hand. Our hydro-jetting vs drain snaking comparison has the side-by-side, and the hydro-jetting page explains the process.
Neither tool fixes a broken pipe. If the camera shows a collapse, a deep belly, or damage in several spots, we show you the footage and talk about sewer line repair. That can mean lining, pipe bursting, or replacement. Our trenchless vs traditional repair guide lays out the tradeoffs.
What to Try First, What Makes It Worse, and How Our Pricing Works
Some things are worth trying before you call. Others turn a simple clog into a bigger one.
Safe to try first:
- Check whether other fixtures are slow. If more than one is, skip the rest of this list and call.
- Use a cup plunger on a sink or tub, or a flange plunger on a toilet.
- Pull and clean the stopper or strainer, then clear the P-trap under the sink with a bucket underneath.
What usually makes it worse:
- Chemical drain openers. They're hard on skin and eyes, they don't touch roots, and they leave caustic water sitting in the pipe for whoever opens it next.
- Flushing wipes. Even the ones sold as flushable. They don't break down the way paper does and they feed clogs.
- Running water and hoping. If the main is restricted, every gallon you add pushes the backup toward the lowest drain in the house.
- Forcing a rented power auger into a pipe you can't see. It can hang up in a cracked or offset joint, and soft or aging pipe doesn't forgive it.
Here's how our pricing works. We find the cause, then quote one flat price before any work starts. You approve it, then we start. If the camera shows something different from what we expected, we stop, show you, and re-quote before doing more. Ranges we typically see: $125 to $250 for a bathroom drain, $150 to $275 for a kitchen drain, and $150 to $300 for a floor drain. The full breakdown is in our drain cleaning cost guide.
Sewage backing up into the house is an emergency plumbing call. We offer 24-hour emergency response Monday to Friday. Our regular hours are Monday to Saturday, 7:30 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday, 9 AM to 4 PM. Call (720) 903-1527.
Need Drain or Sewer Service in Aurora?
Same-day service, upfront pricing, licensed professionals.
Call (720) 903-1527