OB Plumbers?

Your house on a slab or on piers? If on a slab you can rent a cleanout tool from Home Depot. Access sewer from cleanout outside if you have one. Can dig up line outside and put a cleanout yourself if needed.


Not a plumber, but I have a wife and 3 daughters, which gives me much more experience with this type of stuff than I otherwise would like.

Yeah it will go in. Long rope-like metal snake with a deal on the end that spins. Powered by a little motor. The guy at tool rental at Home Depot should be able to tell you how to use it.

Can you not pull the toilet and snake it through there?

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Can you not pull the toilet and snake it through there?

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I'm hoping that's not going to be necessary. If it is, I'm just gonna go ahead and replace the toilet while I'm at it.

I'd have used with success a drain king and a hose on my shower drain. For only 10 bucks it worth a try.

Got a portable air compressor? Run the open ended air hose down the pipe as far as it will go. Take a rag and hold over the open end of the pipe where you insert the air hose. "Kink" the air hose with your free hand, open the air valve and let a sudden burst of air pressure into the pipe. You're not going to get enough air pressure to bust anything, but the sudden surge of pressure may dislodge the blockage. I've done it this way before, too.

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My cleanout seems to point towards the septic tank. I assume if I do this I'm going to need to cut that out and put in a T or something so I can run it towards the house, yes? Or is this tool articulating somehow and can make that turn?

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Cleanouts are there for a reason. You can rent a small (25 foot) Roto-Rooter for this. You'll hafta reach down and start the Roto-Rooter in the direction you want to clean out. If you've never used a Roto-Rooter, you pull out just enough cable to start down the pipe, then you feed the cable by hand gradually while you keep your foot on the power switch. Just reverse this process when you break through the blockage. (I would add that if the rest of your sinks and toilets are not stopped up, the blockage is not in your main sewer line. Have someone turn on the water in another location while you observe, through the clean out, if the water is draining through and past the clean out. If it's backing up at the cleanout, your blockage is PAST the cleanout and towards the main sewer line or septic tank.) Roto-Rooter or hand held snake should clean it out for you, also.

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Not a plumber, but I have a wife and 3 daughters, which gives me much more experience with this type of stuff than I otherwise would like.

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Retired pipefitter here. Wife, two granddaughters, grandson, and numerous grandkids who visit a lot. Does that count?

I would recommend you get the drain king and drop it down each of the sewer vents on your roof....I have easily cleared several clogs this way...