A slow drain is annoying. A blocked main line is a bad weekend. We clear both — and we tell you which one you actually have before we start.

Gallagher’s has been clearing drains across Butte, Shasta, Tehama, Glenn, Yuba and Sutter counties since 1989. We’re the Stand Up Guys: professional, polite, punctual, and straight with you about what a job costs.

What we do

  • Drain cleaning and snaking — sinks, tubs, showers, toilets, floor drains
  • Hydro jetting — high-pressure cleaning that scours the pipe back to bare wall
  • Sewer camera inspection — we look before we quote
  • Rooter service — tree roots in the sewer lateral, which in older neighborhoods is extremely common
  • Sewer line repair and replacement — when cleaning isn’t enough

Snaking vs. hydro jetting — the difference actually matters

This is the part most companies won’t explain, so here it is plainly.

A drain snake (or auger) punches a hole through the blockage. It’s fast, it’s cheaper, and for a single clogged sink or a toilet with something stuck in it, it’s exactly the right tool. Water flows again and you get on with your day.

But it leaves the pipe wall coated. Whatever built up in there — grease, soap scum, mineral scale — is still there, and it will catch the next thing that comes down.

Hydro jetting scours the pipe. High-pressure water blasts the walls back to bare pipe. Nothing left behind, no chemicals, and the line is genuinely clean rather than merely open.

Here’s the rule of thumb we’d give a friend: if you are snaking the same drain twice a year, you do not have a clog problem. You have a buildup problem — and snaking it a third time is just paying to be in the same place next spring.

Why we put a camera down first

Guessing at a sewer line is how people spend money on the wrong repair.

A camera inspection takes about ten minutes and it settles the argument. You stand there and watch the screen with us. Roots coming through a joint. A crack. A belly where the line has sagged and waste pools. Or — genuinely, more than once — a kid’s toy from 1998.

Then we quote the repair you actually need, not the one we assumed you needed. If the line is fine and it’s just grease, we’ll tell you that, and it’ll be a cheaper day than you feared.

Common causes of drain trouble in the North Valley

Tree roots. The big one, especially in older neighborhoods. Roots hunt for water, and a cracked clay sewer lateral is the wettest thing in a dry yard. Homes built before roughly 1975 usually have clay pipe, and clay cracks. In Chico’s older streets — where the trees are magnificent and enormous — this is one of the most common calls we run.

Grease. It goes down the sink warm and liquid, then cools and hardens on the pipe wall. It is the number one cause of kitchen drain failure, and the single biggest day for it is the week of Thanksgiving.

“Flushable” wipes. They aren’t. “Flushable” means it goes down; it does not mean it breaks apart. Toilet paper dissolves in seconds. A wipe is still a wipe two hundred feet down your sewer line, where it snags on a root and then catches everything behind it.

Hard water and mineral scale. Common on well water and through much of the Redding and Anderson area. Scale narrows the pipe a little more every year until one day the drain just stops. Snaking barely touches it; jetting removes it.

Soil movement. Out in the orchard and ag country the ground shifts, and long sewer laterals settle unevenly. That creates a belly in the line where waste collects instead of flowing out.

Signs you have a main line problem, not a single clog

One slow sink is a sink. These mean the problem is downstream, in the line everything shares:

  • More than one fixture is slow at the same time
  • The lowest drains in the house back up first — a downstairs shower, a floor drain
  • The toilet gurgles when the washing machine drains
  • Water comes up in the tub when you flush
  • You smell sewer outside, or near a wall
  • It gets dramatically worse after heavy rain

If you’re seeing these, don’t keep pouring things down the drain. Call somebody.

Please don’t use chemical drain cleaner

We understand the appeal — it’s five dollars and it’s right there at the store. But it’s caustic, it does a poor job on the things that actually cause clogs, and it sits in your pipe corroding it while it fails.

We regularly replace sections of pipe that were killed by the product somebody bought to save them. And if it doesn’t clear the clog, the next person to open that drain — quite possibly one of our technicians — is now dealing with a pipe full of acid.

Hot water, a plunger, and an honest phone call will get you further.

What it costs

A basic drain clearing and a hydro jetting of a root-filled main line are not the same job, and they shouldn’t cost the same. What we can promise:

  • You get the price before we start. In writing.
  • If it turns out to be a bigger job, we stop and re-quote. We don’t “discover” things halfway through and hand you a bill at the end.
  • The camera means we’re quoting what’s actually wrong — not what we guessed.
  • If a free fix will do it, we’ll tell you. A dry P-trap doesn’t need a plumber. It needs you to run the tap for thirty seconds.

You should never have to wonder what the number is going to be.

Where we work

We clean drains across the North Valley: Chico, Redding, Red Bluff, Oroville, Anderson, Yuba City, and the towns in between — Paradise, Corning, Cottonwood, Orland, Willows, Gridley, Marysville, Olivehurst and more.

Drain cleaning FAQs

How much does drain cleaning cost?

It depends on whether it’s a single fixture or the main line, and whether it needs snaking or jetting. We quote before we start, in writing, and we re-quote before doing anything bigger. No surprises at the end.

Do you offer emergency drain service?

Yes. A backed-up main line is not a “wait till Tuesday” problem, and we don’t treat it like one.

How do I know if I need hydro jetting or just a snake?

If it’s one fixture and it’s the first time, a snake is usually right. If it’s the main line, or if you’ve cleared this same drain before, jetting is the honest answer — otherwise you’ll be calling again.

Can tree roots really break a sewer pipe?

Yes, and they routinely do. Roots find a hairline crack or a loose joint, get in, and then thicken — widening the gap as they grow. It’s one of the most common causes of sewer failure in older North Valley homes.

Are chemical drain cleaners safe?

We don’t recommend them. They’re caustic, they’re poor at clearing the buildup that actually causes clogs, and they damage pipes over time.

How often should a main line be cleaned?

Most homes never need it on a schedule. But if you have big mature trees and an older clay lateral, having it scoped every few years is cheap insurance against a very bad weekend.

Call the Stand Up Guys

Slow drain, gurgling toilet, or a line that’s backing up — we’ll find out what’s actually wrong and tell you straight. Gallagher’s has kept the North Valley comfortable since 1989.