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Services

Drain Cleaning in North Vancouver

It drains slower every month, and one day it just stops.

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Google rating
5.0
Verified reviews
104
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Grease, debris and scale narrow a line gradually enough that most people don't notice until the day it closes off completely, and tree roots do the same thing on a longer timeline — finding a hairline joint and filling it over several seasons. Clearing the line is the first move, paired with a straight answer on what to flush and what not to, and how often an older line is worth camera-checking before it becomes a Saturday-night call.

Their level of courtesy and professionalism was of the highest standard. And the way they conducted the post job clean up (each day and at the end of the project) left my property looking better than when they started. In sum, I would strongly recommend Modern Drainage to anyone.
Robert Kinnon · Google

Recent work in North Vancouver

Mike Hartman's own photographs, job by job.

  • A Modern Drainage crew member holding an electric breaker with a muddy, root-fouled pipe fitting still attached to the bit, beside a house foundation.
    What comes up when a line has been ignored a while

What to check, and what to ask

General guidance for homeowners, not specific to your system — worth knowing before you book anyone, including us.

  1. A plunger, a snake and jetting are three different amounts of force

    A plunger clears a simple, single-fixture clog. A cable snake reaches further and cuts through some blockages. Hydro jetting uses pressurised water to scour the full width of a pipe, including grease buildup a snake pokes a hole through rather than clears. Ask which one your problem actually needs.

  2. A drain that is slow everywhere is a different job than one slow drain

    One slow fixture is usually local to that fixture's own line. Several fixtures slow at once, especially on the same floor, points further down the system — closer to the main line than to any one sink.

  3. Grease and roots are the two repeat offenders

    Kitchen grease narrows a pipe gradually from the inside; roots enter through joints and cracks in an older line. Both come back if the pipe is only cleared and not actually addressed, which is why a repeat call within a short stretch is worth asking about rather than just booking again.

  4. What goes down a kitchen drain matters more than what goes down a bathroom one

    Grease, coffee grounds and fibrous scraps are the most common cause of a kitchen line narrowing over time, and none of them show up as a problem the day they go down the drain.

Try these first

  1. 1. Try a plunger first, on a single slow or blocked fixture

    A cup plunger for a sink or tub, a flange plunger for a toilet. A few firm strokes with a seal against the drain settles a simple, local clog more often than anything else on this list.

  2. 2. Stop using chemical drain cleaners

    They rarely clear a real blockage, they make it harder for anyone to see what is actually going on with a camera afterward, and they are hard on both pipes and skin. If one has already been used, mention it when you call.

  3. 3. Check whether it is one fixture or several

    Try the other sinks, the tub and the toilet on the same floor. One slow drain and several slow drains at once point at different parts of the system.

  4. 4. Note what usually goes down that drain

    Grease, coffee grounds, hair, food scraps — whatever is routine for that fixture. It is often the answer once someone looks.

  5. 5. Write down how long this has been building, not just today

    A drain that has been "a bit slow" for weeks and one that stopped completely today are different problems, even if they look the same right now.

Before you call

What actually causes a line to back up if nothing unusual went down it?
Most of the time it's cumulative — grease that never fully clears, scale building up on the inside wall of an older pipe, or a root that found a joint years ago and has been getting thicker every year since. The line was already narrowing long before the day it stopped.

What we do

Tell Mike Hartman what's going on

604-984-4343

Mike Hartman will call you back on the number you left.

Address
165 Amherst Avenue, North Vancouver, BC V7H 1S5
Service Area
North Vancouver · Burnaby · Vancouver · Coquitlam
Hours
Mon–Fri, from 8am
Call Mike Hartman Now