Drain Cleaning in Lakewood, CO

Lakewood homes and their sewer lines

Neighborhoods like Lakewood Estates, Eiber, Belmar Park and the streets around Bear Creek filled in through the 1950s and 1960s with ranch homes and split-levels, most with a basement and a clay or early cast iron sewer lateral. West Lakewood climbs toward Green Mountain, where later homes sit on slopes with longer runs to the street.

Many Lakewood ZIP codes were historically filed under Denver addresses, and a few neighborhoods are served by separate water and sanitation districts. Your sewer bill names the one that maintains the main.

Lakewood's west side backs onto Green Mountain and the hogback, and many homes there sit well above the street. When a lateral runs downhill for a long stretch, a plumber will usually want to run the cable from a cleanout near the foundation rather than through a toilet, both for reach and to avoid pushing a clog back toward the house. If you're not sure where your cleanout is, look along the front basement wall or outside near the corner of the house closest to the street.

What backs up Lakewood drains

Mature street trees planted when the subdivisions were new now have roots in clay joints, and that's the leading cause of repeat main line backups in east and central Lakewood. Hillside homes toward Green Mountain see solids settle where a steep lateral flattens out near the street.

In split-levels and ranches with basement laundry, the floor drain is usually the first sign something downstream is narrowing.

What drain work usually costs in Lakewood

Post-war ranches and their laterals

Most of central and east Lakewood was built in a span of about twenty years, and the houses on a given block often share the same builder, the same floor plan and the same kind of sewer pipe. That's useful when something goes wrong. If your neighbor had roots cut from their lateral last spring, there's a fair chance yours has the same problem at roughly the same distance from the house. Plumbers who work the area regularly know the patterns, and a short description of the house and its age helps them arrive with the right cutter head.

The weak point in these clay laterals is the joint. Each section of pipe is a few feet long, and over seventy years of freeze, thaw and soil movement, joints open slightly. Roots from the elms, ashes and maples planted along Lakewood's streets find those gaps and grow inside. The backups that follow usually arrive in spring, when trees wake up and households run more laundry.

West Lakewood and the hillside lots

Toward Green Mountain and the hogback, homes sit on slopes and some laterals run a long way downhill to the street. Liquid drains fast on a steep run, but paper and solids can be left behind where the pipe flattens out near the main. Those lines tend to clog at the same spot again and again. A camera run shows exactly where, and a plumber can mark it on the surface. In some homes the answer is regular jetting; in others, a short section with a belly needs to be dug and re-laid at the correct slope.

Hillside homes with walk-out basements also have their lowest drains well below the main floor, so any narrowing downstream shows up first in the walk-out bathroom or laundry.

A sensible plan for an older Lakewood line

1. 01

   Clear it and look

   After a backup, have the line opened and scoped the same visit. Keep the video file.

2. 02

   Count the root joints

   One or two root joints can be maintained. Many joints point toward lining.

3. 03

   Book before spring

   Schedule cutting in late winter, before the season your line usually stops.

4. 04

   Revisit in a few years

   A second camera run shows whether roots are spreading or the pipe is shifting.

Signs worth booking a visit before it backs up

• The basement toilet bubbles when the washer drains
• A ring of damp or debris around the floor drain grate
• Several fixtures slow at once instead of just one sink
• A sewer smell near the cleanout cap or in the yard
• Unusually green or soft grass in a line from the house to the street

Buying in Lakewood

A sewer scope during the inspection period is one of the best-value checks on any Lakewood home built before the 1980s. Sellers in these neighborhoods are used to scope requests, and a video showing heavy roots, offsets or a belly gives you a clear basis for a repair request or credit. Ask the inspector or plumber to note the distance to each defect and whether the line connects in the street or an alley.

Belmar and redevelopment

Lakewood's Belmar district replaced an old mall with a walkable mix of homes, shops and offices. Newer buildings there have modern plumbing, but some surrounding older homes connect to aging mains. If you're in an older home near Belmar and see repeated backups, a camera inspection helps determine whether the problem is in your lateral or at the main.

Lakewood through the seasons

Late winter is the quiet before the root season, and it's the best time to book cutting on an older east Lakewood lateral. By April and May, trees along Wadsworth and the side streets are pushing new growth, and backups at basement floor drains pick up. Summer brings storm runoff and the odd yard flooding on the hillside lots. Fall is leaf season, and the trees that cause trouble below ground also clog gutters above it; it's a good moment to have a camera run before the holidays fill the house with guests.