Sewer Line Repair in Clinton, MD

Symptoms worth a call

• A lower-level toilet bubbles or rises when an upstairs tub drains
• Gray, foul water collects around a basement floor drain
• Drains all over the house slow down in the same week
• A clog comes back soon after it was cleared
• A wet, smelly patch appears along the path toward the street

What's under Clinton yards

Clinton grew out from the old Surrattsville crossroads, home of the Surratt House Museum, and most of its housing came later than in the inner-Beltway towns: the median home was built around 1987. Plenty of sewer lines here are therefore plastic, which resists corrosion but can still separate at joints, sag where the soil settled or crack under a driveway poured over it. Clinton's older houses may have earlier pipe materials that are more prone to cracking and to roots at the joints.

WSSC Water owns and maintains the public sewer. If sewage is spilling from a manhole or several homes on your street are affected, call the WSSC emergency line at 301-206-4002. If the street is fine and only your house is backing up, the cause is nearly always in the private line, and that is a plumbing job. Note how many homes share the problem before you pick up the phone; it saves time either way. WSSC requires water and sewer service line repairs and replacements to be done by a plumber holding a WSSC license, so the work and the permit go together.

Cost depends on

• Where the damage is: under the basement floor, the lawn or a paved area
• Depth and length of the section that needs work
• Whether the pipe can be lined or must be dug up and replaced
• Whether a cleanout already exists for access
• The WSSC permit and inspection

After you're connected

Your call goes to an independent local plumber serving Clinton. Be ready to say when the house was built, which fixtures act up first, and whether the line has backed up before. Avoid laundry and long showers until the visit. The plumber will usually clear enough of the blockage to run a camera, measure how deep and how far out the problem is, and then explain whether a spot repair, a liner or new pipe fits.