Hydro jetting scours a Siler City sewer lateral or drain with high-pressure water, cutting roots and removing the scale and grease that build up in older pipe. With about half the town's homes built before 1980, a plumber will usually look at the pipe with a camera before or after the cleaning. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Siler City.
Siler City's older drains
Siler City's housing has some age to it. Census survey figures put the median home at 1980, with roughly half built before then and a large share from the 1950s. Houses in the East Raleigh Street and North Third Avenue historic districts and other older streets often have cast iron drains inside and clay laterals outside, the two pipe types where scale and roots cause the most trouble. TriRiver Water, the City of Sanford's utility, now runs the former Town sewer system. The public main is TriRiver's; the lateral from your house to that main is the owner's.
What to do right now
- Stop running water: no flushing, laundry, dishwasher or showers while drains are backing up.
- Check a neighbor. If they're backing up too, call TriRiver Water about the public main.
- Find the outdoor cleanout, usually a capped pipe near the foundation, and clear a path to it.
- Don't pour chemical drain cleaner into a line that may be jetted; it can splash back on whoever opens it.
- Note which fixtures backed up first. That helps the plumber locate the blockage.
Symptoms and likely causes
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Lowest-floor toilet and tub back up together | Blockage in the main drain or lateral |
| Clog returns weeks after snaking | Residue, scale or roots left on the pipe wall |
| Root strands on the cable | Roots entering through clay or cast iron joints |
| Kitchen sink slow, other drains fine | Grease buildup in the kitchen branch |
| Gurgling toilet when the washer drains | Partial restriction downstream of both fixtures |
What affects the cost
- Whether the line has a usable cleanout
- How far the lateral runs to the TriRiver main
- How much root mass or scale the plumber has to cut
- A camera inspection, often worthwhile on a pre-1980 house
- Off-hours scheduling
The town's wastewater plant has been under a state consent order that calls for plant expansion and rehab of the public collection system, and a state moratorium on new sewer connections has limited new construction. None of that changes how a private lateral is cleaned. If the camera shows the lateral itself needs repair, Chatham County Central Permitting & Inspections handles plumbing permits for Siler City.
Hydro Jetting questions in Siler City
Can a high-pressure jet harm an older clay or cast iron sewer pipe?
Do roots come back after a sewer line has been jetted?
What does it mean when several drains back up at once?
What sets the price of a hydro jetting job?
More plumbing services in Siler City
Hydro Jetting nearby
Helpful guides
Sources
Last updated: