Clear Lake is where one of our most instructive jobs happened — a slow-draining sink that turned out to be a drain line that had come apart under the slab. It is the clearest example we have of why a recurring drain problem sometimes is not a drain problem at all.
Licensed master plumber, MPL 38224. Call 832-334-2836.
The job
Job notes · Clear Lake — residential, fifteen-foot tunnel
The customer called about a sink that was not draining properly. We ran the drain machine and could tell something was not right, so we put a camera down the line.
The camera showed the line sitting full of water, which meant at minimum it had lost its fall. The customer chose to have it repaired properly rather than patched. We tunneled fifteen feet under the slab and found the line had shifted underground and pulled apart at a joint. We replaced the damaged sections and anchored the new pipe to the underside of the slab with hangers so it cannot sag again.
Timeline: one day to dig the tunnel. Three to four hours the next day to make the repair. Then we tested everything, had the customer run water through it, and ran the camera again before allowing the backfill on day three.
Why the camera was worth running here
We do not run a camera on every job as standard, and we have talked customers out of one. On a hairball in a tub line that clears clean, there is nothing to see and you would be paying for a picture of a working pipe.
This was the opposite. The drain machine did not behave the way it should have. That is the signal — not the symptom the customer described, but how the line responded once we were in it. The camera then answered the only question that mattered: is this a blockage, or is this pipe?
Without it, the honest options were cabling it again and hoping, or digging somewhere and finding out. The camera turned a guess into a scope: what was wrong, and exactly how far along the line it was. See sewer camera inspection.
Slab houses and ground movement
A line does not pull apart at a joint on its own. The ground under it moved.
That is the part homeowners in slab houses should understand, because it changes what a proper repair looks like. Patching the joint that failed puts you back in the same position in a couple of years, because the condition that pulled it apart is still there.
It is also why we anchor new under-slab pipe into the concrete with hangers instead of laying it on backfilled dirt. Backfill settles. A pipe resting on settling dirt develops a belly, and a belly is a line that collects waste and backs up on a schedule. Anchored to the slab, the pipe does not move unless the slab does.
You cannot see that detail once the work is finished, which is exactly why it is worth asking any plumber about before they start.
Why we tunnel
Tunneling means the work happens underneath the slab instead of through it. The access is from outside.
The alternative is breaking out your floor, trenching through the middle of the house, repouring concrete, and leaving you with flooring to replace and weeks of dust. On paper tunneling is not the cheaper line item. Once you count flooring, disruption and time, it usually is. See sewer line repair and replacement.
Signs worth calling about
- A drain that clears and then backs up again on a schedule
- A line that sits full of water after it has been cleared
- A smell, or gnats, that cleaning does not fix
- Water surfacing in the yard
- More than one fixture affected at once
Getting here
Clear Lake is around the bay from Baytown rather than next door, so we are honest about it: this is not where our trucks start the day. For jobs of any size the drive is not the deciding factor, and for tunneling work of the kind above it certainly is not. Call and we will tell you straight whether we are the right people for what you need.
Common questions
My sink is draining slowly. Could it really be a broken pipe?
It can be, and this is the town where we proved it. A Clear Lake customer called about a sink not draining properly. The drain machine told us something was not right, so we put a camera down and the line was sitting full of water - it had lost its fall. What we found underground was a line that had shifted and pulled apart at a joint.
What does it mean if the camera shows the line full of water?
It means the line has lost its fall - the slope that makes a drain work. That happens when the pipe moves, and under a slab that means the ground beneath it moved. It is why a line that keeps backing up does not get fixed by cabling it again.
Do you have to break up my floor?
No. We tunnel, so the work happens underneath the slab instead of through it. Nobody breaks out your flooring, jackhammers a trench through your living space, then repours concrete and leaves you to sort out the floor covering.
How long does a tunnel job take?
On the fifteen-foot Clear Lake tunnel it was one day to dig, three to four hours the next day to make the repair, then testing, running water through it, and cameraing it again before we allowed the backfill on day three.
What stops it happening again?
The new pipe is anchored into the concrete slab with hangers rather than left resting on dirt. When the tunnel is backfilled, the pipe cannot move, so the backfill cannot create a new belly. The pipe does not shift unless the slab does.
Do you cover Clear Lake regularly?
It is around the bay from us rather than next door, so it is not where our trucks start. We do work here, and for jobs of any size the drive is not the deciding factor. Call and we will be straight with you about it.
Last updated · written by a licensed master plumber, MPL 38224