Not all homes in the Durham area have access to a municipal sewer line. These homes have to instead rely on using a septic tank to handle the safe treatment and disposal of waste. If your home depends on a septic tank and septic line, you have to take several precautions to make sure that the septic system works at its best. This includes arranging for regular tank pumping, but also keeping a close look out for signs of trouble with the septic line. These include slow drains in your house.

How to tell if slow drains are septic trouble warnings

There are many different causes for drains that are moving slowly, or which become clogged. If you only run into a single drain that’s slowed down or clogged, the problem is likely a local one: hair or grease in the p-trap, an object that’s fallen down the drainpipes. Standard professional drain cleaning can usual solve these problems.

However, if more than one drain in your home is slow, the trouble might be down in the septic line itself. Here are a few clues that you may need septic line service from professional plumbers:

• Gurgling sounds from the drains: When water goes down the drains, a gurgling noise like air bubbling up through the water often means sewage is backed up in the drainpipe. The noise is sewer gas released into the water.
• Drain odors: The release of sewer gas from a backed-up septic line often means foul sewer odors drifting out of the drains.
• Odd drain behavior: If you flush the toilet in the bathroom, and water comes up through the drain in the bathtub or shower, that’s a major warning that sewage has started to back up from the septic system. This will usually start on the ground floor, or in the basement.

If you have any reason to suspect septic line trouble, contact our plumbers immediately. They’ll diagnose the issue and find the best way to solve it.

Contact Bud Matthews Services for all your home service needs in Durham, NC and the surrounding areas.