what you need to know

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In most basements, there is a floor drain located usually in the middle of the basement, or in the mechanical room. This is where the weeping tiles typically drain into and go out to the sewer. This is also the first indicator when your Main Sewer is backed up or Plugged. If you start to notice debris in the floor drain, It usually means that you need to have someone come out and clear the blockage.

* * After the blockage is clear and the water is flowing, we Always advise to flush the weeping tiles and floor drain with lots of water using a large bucket or hose. This will allow any sitting debris that can cause odour to flow out. After the trap is flushed out, we will disinfect the trap with bleach.

The Main Sewer is where all of the water and waste from your home exits out to the City Main. In older areas and homes that are surrounded with mature trees, Roots can play a large role in how your system drains. Roots will often times restrict the flow causing your house to drain slowly and back up when solids pile up. When roots start to grow thicker and stronger, this may cause the old clay, concrete or cast iron pipes to crack, and sometimes collapse. This is Why we ALWAYS run our Camera after getting the blockage cleared. This way we are able to identify what the problem was, and we can avoid other threats in the pipe and address them accordingly. 

** When we see an abundance of roots in a pipe system, we always suggest to have your main line DESCALED of all roots and debris and brought back to its original inner diameter. This also allows us to thoroughly inspect the full condition of the system and identify any threats, breaks or breaches before they become a problem.   If we find anything that requires any repair, we will write a fully detailed report, with options and solutions to permanently fix the problem!

If your sink becomes blocked whether it be the kitchen sink or the bathroom, it is likely caused by heavy build up of grease, soap scum, food etc. We highly discourage the use of Corrosive "DRAIN CLEANING" chemicals. If the blockage can't be cleared using a plunger, (See sink plunging tutorial video), then it may be time to call Aloha! We use a combination of traditional cable machines, and high speed flex machines with Cameras to fully clear the grease, scale build up and debris from the pipe, and flush it out to the main. Once the line has been properly cleaned, we insert the camera down the line to inspect and confirm that the whole length of the line is clean and free flowing. After re attaching the drain lines, we will test the drain and ensure that the drain is flowing like it was brand new!

If your bath tub or shower is slow draining, it may be as easy as plunging the blockage out of the trap. (see tutorial video). If that doesn't work, it may need a little more force to get out. A lot of times, bath tubs will drain slowly because there could be a bunch up of hair, soap buildup and grease. We highly discourage the use of Corrosive "DRAIN CLEANING" chemicals to fix these problems. However, once the drain is working properly, you may use a Drain maintainer enzyme that is non corrosive and safe to use in old pipes to maintain a good working drain!

If you notice at the front of your house in the basement that you have 2 clean-out points in the floor you likely have a building trap, this is typically where the blockages happen. These are very common in pre 1950's homes. The reason for these big traps was because in those times, there were no traps under the fixtures in the home, and this main trap kept  the sewer gasses from coming out of the fixtures. The other reason that these traps didn't plug up as often back then was because the older style fixtures, toilets and appliances would use almost 10x more water than the new high efficiency fixtures that we have today. If your building trap is plugged and the main sewer is in good working order it's as easy as using a special plunger. (Ask us where you can get one from) Building traps are usually very deep and hard to remove. If yours is working properly, let us show you how to maintain it and save yourself the headache and money! 

Many people ask us all the time. "what exactly is DESCALING"? Descaling is our way of thoroughly cleaning a pipe. We use precision sized high speed cutters that only expand to the inner diameter of the specific size and type of pipe that we are working on. While we are working, we have the camera in the line, following the cutter to ensure that all of the roots are being 100% extracted from the pipe and either pushed out to the main, or pulled out of the system. After we have cut out all of the roots and brought the pipe back to the original inner diameter, we will then run a set of polishing heads, to polish the pipe and get rid of any excess build up on the pipe, to allow for a smooth pipe and optimal flow. Once the pipe has been fully cleaned, polished and flushed, we will do a full inspection on the system from start to finish to make sure that there are no threatening breaks, breaches, or cracks. 

* * This service comes with up to a full 2 year warranty against root caused blockages. (depending on the condition of the pipe) Warranty includes, TWO six month inspections and one more final descale at the end of the 2 years at no charge!

The line under floor is the main line leaving the house. Usually consists of 4" from the main stack in the house to the front foundation. Most older homes have cast iron under the floor. Excessive use of chemical cleaners can often cause these pipes to rot from the inside out. They also tend to be very rough inside the pipe due to heavy build up and corrosion causing the pipe to reduce in diameter. This is where toilet paper non flushable wipes and solids tend to get caught up. If this happens, we always open the drain and run a camera to check the existing condition of the pipe and advise on what happened and what we can do to fix the problem. In most cases a simple polish with the descale machine would suffice. 

We use top of the line HD CCTV cameras to inspect the condition of the pipe. We also have a camera for virtually every drain line in your home, from 1-1/2" to 8" pipe. Our technicians specialize in pipe diagnostics to be able to provide you with a fully detailed report on what we’ve found, what the damages are and in most cases, how it happened. It is imperative that we take our time to explain the things that we see to our customers, so that everyone is on the same page, and You as the home owner knows exactly what you are looking at. We also run the camera after every service at NO EXTRA charge after every service as long as there is access. This way we can solve the problem more efficiently when we know exactly what we are dealing with and get there results that we need!

If the pipe system that we are dealing with is collapsed or broken. We always locate the exact stopping point and mark it on where we find it using a sonde and locator. The sonde is on the head of the camera and sends a signal out. With the use of our locator, we are able to pick up the signal and pin point exactly where the camera has stopped. This way if the pipe needs to be excavated, we know where to start. Also in some cases, we are called to locate the sewer and water lines if piles are being installed or any digging is happening around the area where these service lines are. If we need to trace a water line, gas line, or underground utilities, we can use our transmitter that will send a signal through the line and allow us to accurately trace out and mark exactly where they run.