Drain Cleaning in Nunn, CO

Nunn homes and their sewer lines

Homes in Nunn range from early 1900s farmhouses to manufactured homes and newer houses on acreage, many on large lots with wells or rural water lines.

Most properties in and around town use septic systems rather than a large public sewer. Lines from house to tank can be long on bigger lots.

Older homes have cast iron and clay drains; newer ones have PVC.

Nunn drain problems

Septic backups are the most common calls, usually from an overdue tank or a clogged line to the tank. Prairie wind and deep cold freeze drains under manufactured homes, in crawlspaces and between the house and tank. Older farmhouses have aging cast iron.

What drain work usually costs around Nunn

Edge of the shortgrass prairie

Nunn sits where the irrigated farm country of northern Weld County gives way to dryland wheat and shortgrass prairie. To the east lies the Pawnee National Grassland, with its open rangeland and buttes. The landscape is beautiful and wide open, and that openness is exactly why winter wind matters so much for drains here. There's little to slow the wind between Nunn and the horizon.

Septic is the norm

Most homes in and around Nunn treat their own wastewater with a septic tank and field. That makes the tank's condition the first question on any backup call. A tank that hasn't been pumped in years fills with solids, which then move into the field or back up into the house. Pumping every three to five years, depending on household size, keeps most systems healthy for decades.

Long lines on big lots

Homes on acreage often have septic tanks set well away from the house, sometimes down a slope or across a yard. A long line has more places to clog, settle or freeze. When a clog sits somewhere in that line, a plumber can clear it from a cleanout and send a camera along it to see whether the cause was a simple blockage, roots from a windbreak or a sag where the line settled.

Freezing between the house and tank

The most common winter call in Nunn is a septic line that freezes. A line that's buried too shallow, a dry winter with little snow cover, or a slow drip from a faucet or toilet that lets water trickle and freeze in the pipe can all cause it. Fixing the drip, keeping snow on the ground over the line instead of plowing it off, and insulating any exposed section all help.

Manufactured homes on the prairie

Manufactured homes are common in the Nunn area, and their drain lines run under the floor behind skirting. Prairie wind finds every gap. Checking skirting before winter, keeping any heat tape working and insulating the drain line where it leaves the home prevent most freezes.

Winter steps for a Nunn home

1. 01

   Fix drips

   A trickle into the septic line can freeze into a plug.

2. 02

   Leave snow over the line

   Snow insulates; don't plow or drive over the septic area.

3. 03

   Check skirting

   Seal any opening in a Nunn manufactured home's skirting before prairie wind arrives in November.

4. 04

   Mark the cleanout and lids

   So they can be found under drifts.

Nunn drain warning signs

• All drains slowing at once
• A gurgle from the toilet when the tub drains
• Sewer smell outside near the tank
• A line that stops during a cold snap
• Wet or green patches over the field

Older farmhouses and cast iron

Some homes around Nunn are farmhouses from the early 1900s with cast iron drains that have scaled up inside over a century. Scale narrows the pipe and catches debris. If an older farmhouse has slow drains in several rooms, a camera inspection shows how much scale has built up and whether the pipe is still sound.

What affects the cost near Nunn

Simple clogs are routine. Rural travel, long lines to the tank and thawing frozen pipe take more time. Give clear directions, describe the driveway, and say where the tank and cleanout are if you know.

Rural water and the town

Nunn has worked for decades on its drinking water supply, including problems with nitrates in local groundwater. For drains, what matters is how much water your household uses: more water means more load on a septic system. Fixing running toilets and dripping faucets saves water and keeps septic fields from getting overloaded, especially in older systems.

Outbuildings and shops

Many properties around Nunn have shops, barns or garages with their own sinks or floor drains. If those drains connect to the house's septic system, they add water and sometimes oil, grit or chemicals the system can't handle. Shop floor drains should be plumbed appropriately and kept free of solvents and oil. If you're not sure where a shop drain goes, a plumber with a camera can trace it.

Wind-blown dust and roof drains

Prairie wind carries dust and soil onto roofs and into gutters. Downspouts and roof drains that empty near a septic field add water to it during storms, and some older homes have roof drains tied into the house drain. Directing downspouts away from the field and separating any roof drains from the sewer line keep extra water out of the system.

Pawnee Grassland visitors

Birders, hikers and stargazers travel through Nunn toward the Pawnee National Grassland and the Pawnee Buttes. Homes that rent rooms or cabins to those visitors see busy weekends in spring, when migrating birds draw crowds. A septic system that gets heavy use for a few days and then sits quiet benefits from extra care: pump on schedule and keep wipes out of the toilets.

Nunn's small-town grid

The few blocks of Nunn's original town hold older homes on modest lots, with the prairie starting right at the edge of town. Lines there are short but old, and roots from the few big shade trees in town find them.