Drain Cleaning in La Jara, CO

La Jara homes and their sewer lines

La Jara homes are mostly older single-story houses: frame and brick homes on the original lots along the tracks, adobe and stucco homes, manufactured homes and farmhouses on the surrounding irrigated land.

The Town of La Jara provides water and wastewater service in town. Farms and homes outside town use wells and septic systems.

Many La Jara houses drain through clay or cast iron that has been in place for most of a century.

La Jara drain problems

La Jara drain calls come from old pipe and valley cold. Clay laterals crack and take in roots from yard trees and windbreaks, cast iron rusts, and subzero valley nights freeze drains in crawlspaces and under older floors.

What drain work usually costs in La Jara

A water tank that became a town

La Jara started as little more than a water tank on the Denver and Rio Grande line after the railroad came through the San Luis Valley around 1880. An earlier settlement on La Jara Creek sat about six miles west. A town company platted lots along the tracks, Mormon settlers helped build the community, and by the 1930s around 2,000 people lived here. The population has since settled to about 730. The 1911 depot, now on the National Register of Historic Places, became the town hall in 1970.

La Jara sits on US 285 at about 7,600 feet, 14 miles south of Alamosa and 20 miles north of the New Mexico line.

Town water and wastewater

The Town of La Jara provides water and wastewater service in town and commits to meeting state regulations for both. The town maintains its mains; the service line from your house to the main is yours. In a town where many homes date from the railroad era and the 1930s, those private lines are often the oldest pipe on the property. Farms and homes outside the town limits use wells and septic systems.

Old houses, old drains

Many La Jara homes are single-story frame, brick or adobe houses built decades ago, some with bathrooms added long after the house went up. Drains added later may have poor slope or tie into the original line in awkward ways. Clay laterals crack and separate. Cast iron rusts and scales. If a La Jara line clogs repeatedly, a camera inspection shows whether the problem is a household clog, roots, a sag or broken pipe.

Valley cold

The San Luis Valley is one of the coldest places in the lower 48 on clear winter nights, and La Jara is no exception. Drains in crawlspaces, under older floors and along exterior walls freeze on subzero mornings. Keep crawlspace vents closed in winter, keep heat in rooms with plumbing, and if a drain stops on a cold morning, call rather than forcing it.

Windbreaks and irrigated ground

Trees planted as windbreaks and shade around La Jara homes send roots into clay joints, and irrigated land around town keeps the soil moist through the summer. Septic fields on farms near irrigation ditches can stay wet, slowing drains. Keep irrigation water away from the tank and field, and pump the tank on schedule.

When a La Jara drain backs up

1. 01

   Stop running water

   In La Jara, give the line time to drain before using any fixture.

2. 02

   Check for ice

   On a cold morning, warm the space before anything else.

3. 03

   Find the cleanout

   It may be outside near the foundation or in a crawlspace.

4. 04

   Tell the plumber the age

   Older La Jara homes often need a camera inspection.

La Jara warning signs

• A slow drain throughout the house
• Gurgling toilets
• Roots on the cable
• A frozen drain on a subzero morning
• Wet ground over a septic field

What changes the price in La Jara

Plumbers usually drive from Alamosa or Monte Vista, so travel adds a little. Root cutting, thawing and camera work add time. Ask what a La Jara visit should cost before work starts.

Wild roses and an older creek town

The town takes its name from La Jara Creek, and its own newsletter links the name to thickets of wild roses along the creek. The first settlement sat about six miles west of today's town around 1870, before the railroad pulled everything east to the tracks. La Jara's peak years, in the 1920s and 1930s, left a town grid laid out for a much bigger population than lives here now, with older houses spread among empty lots. Many of those homes stood vacant for stretches, and pipes that sit unused can dry out, crack at joints or collect debris.

If you buy or reopen an older La Jara house that has been empty, run water through every fixture, watch for slow drains and smells, and consider a camera inspection of the main before moving in.

Potatoes, barley and farm households

Farms around La Jara grow potatoes, barley and hay on irrigated ground, and farmhouses on those operations often have mudrooms, work sinks and laundry rooms that handle a lot of dirt and grit. Soil and gravel washed down a utility sink settle in the line and build up over time. A trap or screen on the work sink and a periodic cleaning of the main keep a La Jara farmhouse line clear through harvest.

Septic systems on those farms also take heavy laundry loads during busy seasons. Spreading loads across the week gives the tank time to settle solids.