If you are going to try and unclog your sewer line, you should know the length of your sewer line. Why? Because your sewer line could be lets say, 100ft long, and the snake you are using has a length of 50ft. If the clog is within 50ft, you are in luck and you might try to use the same length all the time. But, if your clog builds up further down the pipe, the 50ft snake definitely will not work. You either will need to attach another snake or use a longer snake all together. Generally, the sewer length is less than 75ft. That is, from your house trap out to the city sewer connection. In some cases, the sewers run longer than 75ft and can even run upto 150-200ft. The longer the sewer pipe, the more access points it generally has.
You can basically guess the length of your sewer line. Check to see if your house trap is towards the front of house or towards the rear of the house. If the main house trap is by the front, then guess or measure the distance from the front of the house to pretty much the center of the street.
If your main sewer trap is towards the back of the house, then you have to guess or measure the length from the back of the house to center of the street, and add a few more extra feet to cover for turns the sewer pipe makes. As we have stated in previous posts, the longer the sewer line is or the further the clog is, the harder it is to unclog the pipe. If you live in Queens, Brooklyn or The Bronx, your sewer lines should pretty much be less than 50ft (Most cases). If you live in Nassau or Suffolk counties, your sewer line should be pretty much between 50-75ft(most cases). Some houses do have sewers that are 100ft or longer and those homeowners should be more agressive in keeping their sewers maintained, to avoid tough back ups.

Don’t worry. If you ever run into a problem where you drop your ring into your sink, you can easily retreive your ring. Over the years, our mechanics have retrieved many rings for our customers. Some were presents, some were wedding rings, some were engagement rings. It is pretty obvious, anyone would be upset if they dropped their ring in the sink. But, we love to see the smile coming back on our customers faces when we successfully retrieve their ring for them.
If you ever run into a similar situation, where your ring falls or slips down the sink drain, first thing you must do is to stop running the sink water. If you are already not running it, then make sure no one runs the water till you get your ring back. It would be a good idea to not run any water in the house, just in case your ring makes it to the sewer trap and is washed away from there. Majority of the times, that is more than 98% of the time, the ring does not make it past the sink trap. It simple sits at the bottom of the trap. If you have a PVC trap under your sink, simply unscrew the trap and flip it, your ring should come out smoothly.
If you have a metal trap, then more than likely, you will have a plug at the bottom of the trap. Grab a channel lock or wrench and open up the plug. Some water will come out, so keep a pot underneath the trap. Your ring should come out with the water, but in case it does not, run the water in the sink while the plug is open. This should push the ring out if it is sitting on the side of a trap. You can also put some gloves on and feel the inside of the trap to make sure the ring is not in there.

If the above two tricks don’t work, head over to your main sewer trap and make sure the ring is not there. If none of the above work, call a plumber or a sewer and drain mechanic to try to retrieve the ring from your stack line.

Hopefully, no one has to go through such trouble. Good Luck

Old and leaking pipes under a sink are not too much of an headache until they get clogged. To change a pipe under your sink, all you have to do is open the pipes with a channel lock or a wrench and take the old pipes to a hardware store and ask them to give you exact same size pipe. PVC pipes are reliable and cheap and more than likely the hardware store owner will also recommend PVC pipe.
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of removing the pipe, the next best thing is to patch up the pipe. There are a number of different products available that can help you patch up a leaking pipe. We have a list of items that we carry with us, in case we have to do a quick patch. Make sure to follow the safety guidelines on each product and only use the recommended amount.

1. Plumbers Putty: This is the most reliable item. You can use it as a patch on your sink pipe and other drains. It will stop your leak pretty quickly. There are a number of different manufacturers and almost all of them are good.
   
2. Teflon Tape: This is used extensively on plugs that get old and loose their threads and start leaking.
3. Repair Tape: This kind of tape creates a water and air tight seal, thus preventing leaks.

There are number of other tools available but these three help us the most to patch minor leaks. Give them a try if you are tired of hearing that dripping noise under your sink. If you have any plumbing repair issue please call your local licensed plumber. $49.95 Any Sewer or Drain can recommend local plumbing companies in Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Nassau and Suffolk. If you have any plumbing need and need a recommendation please give us a call.

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$49.95 Any Sewer or Drain

1. Remove the toilet bowl
2. Take out the old wax gasket
3. Place the old gasket under the toilet bowl
4. Reset the toilet bowl

Replacing your gasket should solve your problem of water leaking from the base of the toiletafter you flush it. keep in mind that even if your toilet (mostly basement toilets backup due to sewer clog) over flows due to a sewer backup, you still should change your wax gasket if the sewer water comes out from the base of the toilet as-well.
Old gaskets can also result in sewer like smell coming into your house. This is important, as many customers call us because they have a sewer smell in the house even though there is no sewer backup. Mostly it is due to open sewer caps, dried out drains or toilet bowls with broken wax gaskets. Wax gaskets do not need to be changed regularly. Change them if needed.

Hello everyone,

More and more people are trying to unclog their sewers and drains themselves and we want to help you with your sewer and drain DIY. A shower stall can get clogged with hair and soap build up. It doesn’t matter what floor the shower stall is on, it can get clogged. A shower stall is much easier to unclog than a bathtub or a sink. Most shower stalls have a cover with 2 screws on them. All you have to do is to unscrew the cover and see if there are any hair hanging off the cover. If you see hair sticking to the cover, more than likely your problem is right there. Clean the shower drain cover with hot water, remove any soap build up and screw the cover back on the shower drain.
If that doesn’t help, then you can try the trusty plunger or even try simple bleach. Most shower stall clogs can be taken care by a plunger, but after you successfully unclog the shower with a plunger, pour some bleach (quarter of a bottle should be fine) or pour baking soda in the shower drain and pour vinegar over it. This is a home remedy that many of our customers have used successfully. If your clog is more stubborn or further down the pipe, you will need an unclogging machine. Home Depot has a variety of machines that can be rented. You have to be very careful while using the machine to unclog your shower.
If you need our help with your particular situation, e-mail us. We will assist you step by step. If you live in Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Nassau or Suffolk you can give us a call. We will unclog your shower for $49.95.

Thank You