Drain Cleaning in Lake City, CO

Lake City homes and their sewer lines

Lake City's historic district, listed on the National Register in 1978, holds frame houses, cabins and brick buildings from the 1875 to 1881 boom and the 1890s. Summer cabins and newer homes spread along the Lake Fork and Henson Creek and around Lake San Cristobal.

Ask whether a Lake City property is on the town's sewer or on its own septic system: homes in town and cabins up the valleys are not served the same way, and many cabins out in Hinsdale County treat their own wastewater.

Old Lake City houses may have cast iron and clay under the original rooms and PEX or PVC in newer additions, while seasonal cabins often have shallow drain runs never meant for January.

Lake City drain problems

Lake City's drain calls are shaped by altitude and the seasons. The town fills with summer residents and visitors, then empties for a long winter, so lines sit unused, cabins freeze when heat fails, and spring brings the drain problems nobody noticed in October.

Lake City drain cleaning cost ranges

A silver town on the toll road

Lake City was platted in the fall of 1874 while Otto Mears and his partners were building the Saguache and San Juan toll road over the mountains. Silver and gold strikes on Henson Creek and the Lake Fork brought a rush, and between 1875 and 1879 several thousand people may have lived in and around town. The Denver and Rio Grande arrived in 1889 and brought a second smaller boom, but by about 1905 mining had faded and the town began a long decline. By 1970 only 91 people were counted here.

Lake City is now the seat and only incorporated town of Hinsdale County, one of the least populated counties in the country. About 430 people live here year-round, and the population swells in summer with cabin owners, anglers, hunters and off-road drivers headed for the Alpine Loop.

Henson Creek, the Lake Fork and Lake San Cristobal

The town sits where Henson Creek flows into the Lake Fork of the Gunnison, about seven miles east of Uncompahgre Peak. A few miles upstream, Lake San Cristobal, Colorado's second-largest natural lake, was formed when the Slumgullion Earthflow slid down and dammed the Lake Fork centuries ago. The earthflow is still moving slowly, and its yellow clay was once used for local brick.

Creeks this close bring flood risk: Henson Creek runs right through town, and studies for flood control along it were done in the 1980s. For homeowners, the creeks also mean shallow groundwater in spring, which affects septic systems and drains near the bottom of the valley.

Sewer or septic: know which you have

Not every Lake City property drains the same way. Homes and businesses in town may be on a public sewer, while cabins up Henson Creek, along the Lake Fork and around Lake San Cristobal usually have their own septic systems. That matters when a drain backs up. On a sewer line, a plumber clears the lateral to the main; on septic, the problem may be the line to the tank, a full tank or a failing leach field. If you are buying in Lake City, ask the town or Hinsdale County how the property is served and when a septic tank was last pumped.

Historic district houses

Lake City's National Register historic district, listed in 1978, takes in many of the frame houses, churches and brick buildings built during the boom of the late 1870s and the 1890s. Many have been restored, and modern plumbing was added long after they were built, often in stages. That means drain lines can take odd routes, run through cold crawlspaces or be a mix of old cast iron and newer plastic. Before buying or remodeling an old Lake City house, a camera inspection shows what the drains look like and where they run.

At nearly 8,700 feet

Lake City sits at about 8,670 feet, and its winters are long and cold, with large swings between day and night temperatures. Frost goes deep, especially where snow is cleared or blown away. Lake City drains are most vulnerable where they run through unheated crawlspaces, along outside walls or in shallow trenches. A cabin built for summer use may have plumbing that was never designed for winter.

Cabins that sit empty all winter

Many Lake City homes are summer places, closed in the fall and left until late spring. If the plumbing isn't winterized properly, water left in traps and low spots in drain lines freezes and can crack pipe and fittings. A properly winterized cabin has its water shut off and drained, and RV antifreeze poured into every trap, toilet and drain. If you keep the heat on instead, set it at a safe level and have a neighbor or caretaker check the place after the coldest nights.

Spring opening and summer crowds

Late spring is when many Lake City drain problems are found. Owners return and turn the water on, and a cracked trap leaks, a drain line that froze stays blocked, or a septic system that sat all winter doesn't take water as expected. Then summer brings full houses: a cabin that sleeps a big family or a group of guests puts far more water through its system in a week than it saw all winter. Spreading out laundry, using strainers in showers and keeping grease out of sinks helps a septic system handle the load.

If a Lake City drain backs up

1. 01

   Stop the water

   In a Lake City cabin, more water only adds to a backup or a full septic tank.

2. 02

   Frozen or clogged?

   If it has been very cold and the cabin lost heat, the line may be frozen.

3. 03

   Sewer or septic?

   Tell the plumber which you have; it changes where the problem likely is.

4. 04

   Find the cleanout

   Look near the foundation, in a crawlspace or along the line to the tank.

Lake City warning signs

• A Lake City cabin drain that won't drain after spring opening
• Sewer smell in a cabin that sat closed all winter
• Gurgling toilets when a full cabin's shower runs
• Wet ground over a Lake City leach field in early summer
• Ice on a drain pipe in a Lake City crawlspace