Drain Cleaning in Mountain View, CA

A Homeowner’s Guide to Drain Cleaning in Mountain View

One drain, or the main line?

Start by noticing which drains are slow. A single sink, tub, shower or toilet that won’t drain has a clog in the house plumbing, usually near the fixture or in the branch line in the wall. We clear those with hand augers, drum machines and toilet augers sized for the pipe, and test the drain before we leave.

When several fixtures back up at once, a toilet gurgles while the washer drains, or water comes up at the lowest drain, the blockage is in the sewer lateral, the pipe that carries everything from the house to the City main. In Mountain View that pipe is the owner’s from end to end.

Your lateral, the City’s main

Mountain View’s City Code (Sec. 35.29) defines the lateral as the piping from the building to the point where it connects to the City-owned main, and makes the property owner responsible for it. The City maintains the main and clears blockages in it; owners clear their house plumbing and the lateral.

There’s one practical exception. Where the lateral has a property-line cleanout, City crews will clean the stretch from that cleanout to the main as a courtesy. Repairs on that stretch are still the owner’s.

Call the City’s Public Services Division at (650) 903-6329, which says its wastewater crews respond at all hours, when:

• sewage comes up through a fixture while nothing in the house is running;
• sewage reaches the street or a storm drain;
• your plumber finds your lateral clear and the blockage further down.

Otherwise, the first call is to a plumber. We answer 24/7 at (408) 978-3093.

How we clear a lateral here

The City’s outreach to plumbers asks for three things on lateral jobs: pull roots, grease and debris out of the line rather than pushing them into the main, call Public Services if debris may reach the main, and never open a City manhole. We work from a cleanout with a cable machine and root cutter, or with hydro jetting when grease or scale lines the pipe.

PG&E’s sewer cleaning guidance adds a gas-safety step. A clogged line can be caused by a gas line that was bored through it during past utility work, so PG&E asks plumbers to look at the blockage with a camera first and to clear it with a snake or water jet rather than a cutting tool. If a gas line turns up in the sewer, all work stops and PG&E is called at 1-800-743-5000. See sewer camera inspection.

Roots and older pipe

Mountain View’s population went from 6,563 in 1950 to 30,889 in 1960 and about 54,000 by 1970, so many single-family homes, including the Monta Loma Eichlers, date from those decades. Cast iron and clay sewer pipe of that age cracks, scales inside and lets roots in at the joints, which is why root clogs come back.

• Roots inside the pipe are cut out mechanically with rooter service or jetting.
• Root-control products with more than 5% copper may not go into the sewer (City Code Sec. 35.33.13.3).
• Digging is where the tree rules apply: City Code bars excavation next to a heritage tree where it may materially damage the roots. Urban Forestry, (650) 903-6273, keeps the street tree inventory.

The property-line cleanout

A cleanout at the property line makes every future clearing quicker and is what the City needs for its courtesy cleaning. At a single-family home or duplex, adding or replacing a property-line cleanout, or replacing an existing sewer line in the same place, can be done on the City’s online Same-Day Building Permit. A replaced line needs a cleanout within 2 feet of the building and another at the property line.

The City also holds owners responsible for damage caused by a lateral that wasn’t built right, such as one missing a required backflow device.

When cleaning isn’t enough

If the camera shows a break, a sag or a root-filled joint, another cleaning only buys time. Repairs follow the property line: a building permit from the house to the property-line cleanout, and a Public Works excavation permit from the cleanout to the main. New homes, large remodels and ADUs over 600 sq ft also need a camera inspection of the lateral, with a City inspector present, before the building permit is issued. See sewer line service in Mountain View and our service area.

Sources

City of Mountain View: Water and sewer FAQs · Wastewater (Sewer) · Plumber Outreach Program · Same-Day Building Permits · Sewer lateral inspection · Trees. Mountain View City Code: Chapter 35, Water, Sewage and Other Municipal Services · Chapter 32, Trees, Shrubs and Plants. PG&E: Sewer cleaning safety. Population history: Wikipedia. Checked October and November 2026.