Plumbing, drains and water treatment across Las Vegas and Clark County. Call (725) 255-9011
PreferredPlumber Company

Clogged drains in Las Vegas and Clark County

Clogged drains, from one slow sink to the whole house

One slow fixture is a different job from every drain backing up at once. This page tells you which one you have.

  • Diagnosis before a price
  • Permitted work handled through the right office
  • No invented credentials on this site
Find out which clog you have, illustrative image for clogged drains in Las Vegas
Illustrative image, not a photo of our work
291 ppmLas Vegas tap water hardness
17 gpgGrains per gallon, classed very hard
90%Of Southern Nevada water comes from Lake Mead
5Incorporated cities in Clark County, the rest is county

Figures above are published third party data, not company claims. Sources: Las Vegas Valley Water District, water district hardness figure, water district supply figure, Clark County.

  • Las Vegas and Clark CountyThe service area on our own mark. Every incorporated city in the valley plus the unincorporated towns, which is where about a million people live.
  • Repair, install, maintainThe three verbs on our logo, and the whole scope. Emergency repair through to planned replacement and annual servicing.
  • Water softeners, all makes and modelsInstallation, repair, replacement and maintenance, including units that came with the house. We are not an authorised dealer for any brand and we do not claim to be.
  • Sourced facts, no invented credentialsEvery local figure on this site links to the agency that published it. Nothing about licences, ratings or guarantees is printed until it has been verified.
The short answer

One slow fixture and a whole house backing up are different problems with different prices. This page helps you tell them apart in two minutes, before anyone comes out and before you agree to anything.

Find out which clog you have

Work down this list in order. The first one that matches is your situation.

  • Only one sink, tub or shower drains slowly, everything else normal: a local clog at that fixture
  • Kitchen sink only, with a disposal: could be the disposal, the trap or grease further along
  • Both sides of a double sink slow together: the blockage is past the tee, in the branch
  • Two or more fixtures in the same bathroom: the branch line serving that bathroom
  • Toilets and showers on the lowest floor backing up: the main line, and this is the urgent one
  • Water appearing at a floor drain or outside cleanout: main line, and stop using water in the house
If the lowest fixtures are backing up, stop running water

Every gallon you use has to go somewhere, and with a blocked main line that somewhere is the lowest opening in the house. Stop laundry and dishwashers, avoid flushing, and call. This is the version of a clog that damages floors.

What clears each type

Matching the method to the location is the whole job.

Clog location and the matching clearing approach
Where the clog isHow it gets cleared
Trap under a fixtureOften the simplest job on this site. The trap comes apart, gets cleaned and goes back with a fresh seal.
Branch line from one fixtureCabled from the nearest sensible access. Usually quick.
Kitchen line with greaseCabling opens it, jetting cleans it. Grease reforms, so if this is a repeat, jetting is the fix that lasts.
Shared bathroom branchCabled from a cleanout. If two bathrooms share it, the access point decides the approach.
Main line to the streetCabled from the main cleanout, then camera if it recurs or if the cable finds something structural.
Roots or a broken lineNot a clog problem. Clearing it buys months. The fix is on the sewer line page.
Diagram showing how to tell a single fixture clog from a branch line blockage and from a main line blockage
Diagram, not a photograph of our work
How it works

How we work a clog

  1. Locate before clearing

    Which fixtures are affected tells us where in the system to work. Guessing this wastes your money and our time.

    On the call and on arrival
  2. Clear from proper access

    A cleanout where one exists. Pulling fixtures is a last resort, not a first move.

    On site
  3. Load test the line

    We run real volume through it. One flush proves nothing about a partially cleared line.

    Same visit
  4. Explain the cause

    Wipes, grease, roots, scale or a structural fault. If it is the last one, you need to know now rather than at the third callout.

    Before we leave

Wipes labelled flushable are the single most common cause of the main line clogs we clear. They do not break down the way paper does. Nothing but paper down a toilet is the cheapest plumbing advice on this website.

Comparison of drain clearing methods showing cabling, hydro jetting and camera inspection and what each is for
Diagram, not a photograph of our work
What it costs

What decides the price of clogged drains

No rate or range for this work is published anywhere on this site, because none has been confirmed for publication for this business. What follows is the honest version: what actually moves the number on a job like this, so you can read any quote and judge it.

What you get from the call

Describe what is happening and you will hear what it usually means, what the repair involves and what somebody needs to see before quoting it. That happens whether or not you book the work.

What moves the number on this job

  • Access. The same repair costs very different amounts behind a cabinet, inside a wall, under a slab or four feet down in a yard. Access is usually the largest single variable.
  • Repair or replace. A cartridge is a part. A failed tank, exhausted softener resin or brittle polybutylene is a replacement, and no amount of repair spend fixes those.
  • Parts, and whether they still exist. A common cartridge is cheap and on the van. A control head for a discontinued softener is neither.
  • Permit and inspection, where the work needs them. A water heater replacement, a repipe and sewer work are permitted and inspected in this valley. That is real time and real cost, and work done without it turns up later in a buyer inspection.
  • Diagnosis time. Finding a hidden leak is a separate skill from fixing it, and on a slab leak the locating is most of the job. Paying for it is cheaper than exploratory demolition.

What to ask whoever quotes you

  • Which of the five things above is driving this number.
  • Is this a repair or a replacement, and what made you choose.
  • Does the price include the permit and the inspection, where the work needs one.
  • What is your Nevada contractor licence number. Plumbing is classification C-1, Plumbing and Heating, and the Nevada State Contractors Board register lets you check any licence in about a minute. Ask us the same question.

Fair questions

Can I try a plunger or a hand auger first?

On a single slow fixture, sure, and plenty of people fix it that way. Where we would say stop: if the lowest fixtures in the house are backing up, that is a main line and a plunger will not reach it. Forcing it can push waste into places you do not want it.

Why is my clog back so quickly?

Usually because a cable opened a channel through the blockage rather than removing it, so the remaining grease or scale narrowed it again. Or because the real problem is roots or a break, which no amount of clearing fixes.

Do you charge more for a main line than a sink?

They are different jobs with different equipment and access, so yes, they price differently. What you will not get is a sink price on the phone and a main line price at the door: that is why we ask which fixtures are affected before dispatch.

Diagram of the plumbing emergency sequence, from stopping the water to photographing the damage
Diagram, not a photograph of our work
Checkable, not claimed

We have no reviews to show you yet, so here is verifiable fact instead

A new site with a wall of glowing testimonials should make you suspicious, and this one does not have them because no review corpus has been verified for this brand. Rather than fill the space with invented quotes, these are three things about your water and your county that you can check against the agency that published them.

Your water is 291 ppm, and that is not our opinion

The Las Vegas Valley Water District publishes valley tap water at 291 parts per million, 17 grains per gallon, and categorises it as very hard. It is the reason fixtures and water heaters here do not last as long as the box promised.

Read the water district page

Softening is a preference, not a health need

The Southern Nevada Water Authority states that removing calcium and magnesium softens water but is not a necessity to protect your health. Any company telling you otherwise is contradicting the agency that tests your supply.

Read the water authority page

Nevada plumbing is licensed as C-1

Plumbing and Heating, issued by the Nevada State Contractors Board under chapter 624. You can check any contractor licence on their register in about a minute, and you should, before work starts.

Check a licence on the register
What the work looks like

Clogged drains in a valley home

An illustrative image, not a photograph of our work.

Clogged drains work in a Las Vegas home, illustrative image
Illustrative image, not a photo of our work

What the work looks like

An illustrative view of the equipment and access this job involves. It is not a photograph of our work.

Photography note

These are illustrations and diagrams, not photographs of our work. No job photography, before and after pair, van, uniform or team photograph appears anywhere on this site, because we do not have verified photographs of this company work yet and generating them would fabricate evidence about a real business. Real job photography is on the list to add.

Where we work

Clogged drains across Clark County

We cover clogged drains in every community below. Each area page names the authority that issues a permit for that address, which matters whenever this work is permitted.

Related work and further reading

One way in, and it is the phone

Talk to us about clogged drains

One call. You get the diagnosis before the number, and the cost of the visit before anyone is sent out.

Reach Preferred Plumber Company

Licence
Nevada State Contractors Board licence NV #0078989, C-1D Plumbing held by Preferred Plumbing LLC
Service area
Clark County, Nevada, including Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Summerlin, Paradise, Spring Valley, Enterprise, Sunrise Manor, Centennial Hills and Boulder City

We are a service area business. We come to you, so there is no counter to visit and no street address on this page. The number above is the fastest way in.

What to have ready

None of it is required. All of it makes the call shorter.

Calling about Clogged drains? Say that first and we can skip straight to the questions that matter for it. Something else? Browse the other services.

  • Where you areThe address, and a cross street if the address is new or hard to find. Which end of the valley you are on decides who is closest.
  • What is happening, in your own wordsNo plumbing vocabulary needed. "Water under the sink since this morning" is a better description than a guess at the cause.
  • Whether water is running right nowThis is the question that changes everything else. If it is, say so first and we will talk you to the shutoff before anything else.
  • What you have already triedPlunged it, reset the disposal, flipped the breaker, ran the softener through a regeneration. It saves repeating the steps that did not work.
  • Whether you own or rentA landlord or an HOA sometimes has to authorise the work, and it is better to find that out on the phone than at the door.

Water pouring right now? Do not read the rest of this. Call (725) 255-9011 and shut off the supply while it rings.

Clogged drains questions

How do I know if my main sewer line is clogged?

The tell is multiple fixtures at once, especially the lowest ones. Flush a toilet and watch a nearby shower drain: if water rises where you did not run any, the fixtures are sharing a blockage downstream. Gurgling from another drain is the same signal.

Are flushable wipes really a problem?

Yes, and they are the most common cause of the main line blockages we clear. They hold together far longer than toilet paper and catch on anything in the pipe. Toilet paper and human waste only is the rule that prevents most of these calls.

Should I stop using water if a drain is backing up?

If the lowest fixtures are backing up, yes. Everything you run has to exit somewhere, and with a blocked main that is the lowest opening in the house. Stopping water use limits the damage while you wait.

Can a clogged drain cause a leak?

It can. Pressure and standing water find weak joints, and an overflowing fixture puts water into floors and cabinets. A slow drain is not urgent; an overflowing one is.

Why does my kitchen sink keep clogging?

Grease, almost always. It goes down warm and liquid, then cools and coats the pipe until the bore closes. Cabling reopens a channel through it. Jetting removes it, which is why a repeat kitchen clog is usually a jetting conversation.

Talk to someone about clogged drains

Describe what is happening and we will tell you what it usually takes to fix, before anyone comes out.