Floor Drain Cleaning across Vaughan

Three floor drain problems

It backs up. If water rises out of it when other fixtures drain, the main line is blocked further on. That is a main line job, not just the floor drain.

It drains slowly on its own. Lint from washing machines, sediment and debris settle in the trap below the grate. Cleaning the trap usually fixes it.

It smells. The trap below the grate holds water that blocks sewer gas. In a basement that hardly ever sees water, it evaporates and the gas comes straight up.

What we do

• Lift the grate and remove the debris basket where one exists.
• Scoop out sediment from the trap by hand and with a wet vac.
• Cable through the trap and toward the main, retrieving lint and silt.
• Run a hose for several minutes and watch for any rise.
• Check the backwater valve, if fitted, and clean its flap.
• Refill the trap and, where it keeps drying out, fit a trap seal insert or set up a trap primer.

Old drains and older houses

In 1960s and 1970s Woodbridge homes, the floor drain often sits on a cast-iron trap under the slab that has scaled up over the decades. Cabling helps, but if it keeps narrowing, a camera will show whether the trap itself needs replacing. That means cutting a small area of the floor around the drain.

Some older homes have a cleanout in the floor drain trap with a threaded plug. If that plug is missing, sewer gas comes up even when the trap is full. We check for it and replace it.

Laundry and the floor drain

Many basements discharge the washing machine into a laundry tub that drains near the floor drain. Lint goes everywhere. A lint trap on the washer hose saves the drain. See laundry plumbing for setups that work better.