The Drain That Fought Back

The owner of a Lincoln Park restaurant called us after three other plumbing companies had snaked the same floor drain and charged him each time — with the backup returning within a week. He was losing Friday night service. He was done.

We ran a camera down the 4-inch cast iron line and found the real problem 47 feet in: a section of pipe that had bellied — sagged below grade — creating a permanent low spot where grease, food solids, and debris collected no matter how many times you snaked it.

A snake clears the blockage. It doesn't fix the belly. The drain was always going to back up again.

We excavated a 6-foot section of the floor, replaced the bellied cast iron with new PVC at the correct slope, and backfilled with compacted gravel. The restaurant has not had a single backup since. That was eleven months ago.

If your drain keeps backing up after snaking, you don't have a clog problem — you have a pipe problem. Camera inspection is the only way to know for sure. We carry cameras on every service truck.