MVP Plumbing repairs and replaces under-slab and yard sewer lines in Baytown, Mont Belvieu and the Houston area, including tunneling so the work happens beneath your slab instead of through your floor. Licensed master plumber, MPL 38224.
If a line keeps backing up no matter how many times it is cleared, or a camera has shown it sitting full of water, the pipe itself is the problem. Call 832-334-2836.
Signs the pipe is the problem, not a blockage
- The line holds water after it has been cleared. It has lost its fall.
- The same stoppage on a schedule, every few weeks or months, in the same place.
- A smell, and gnats, that cleaning does not fix.
- Water surfacing in the yard or around the building.
- Multiple fixtures affected at once, which points at the main line.
- Cracked or shifting flooring over the line's run, in a slab house.
Most people do not connect a fly problem to a plumbing problem. A drain that clears but still smells, gnats in the kitchen that will not go away no matter how much you clean, water surfacing outside the building — those together usually mean a broken line under the slab, not a blockage.
A recent job — fifteen-foot tunnel in Clear Lake
Job notes · Clear Lake, residential
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 we tunnel instead of trenching through your floor
Tunneling means the work happens underneath the slab instead of through it. For a business that cannot close — a care home, a restaurant, an office — that is the difference between staying open and shutting down.
For a house, it means nobody breaks out your flooring, jackhammers a trench through the middle of your living space, and then repours concrete and leaves you to sort out the floor covering afterwards. The access is from outside.
It is not the cheapest way to do the job on paper. It is usually the cheapest way once you count what a through-the-floor repair actually costs you in flooring, dust, disruption and time out of the building.
Why we anchor the new pipe
The pipe does not shift unless the slab does.
The obvious question after a tunnel job is what stops it happening again.
New pipe is anchored into the concrete slab with hangers, not 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.
This is worth asking any plumber about, because it is the part of the job you cannot see once the work is finished. A new line laid on backfilled dirt is a line waiting to develop the same problem again, and by then it is somebody else's warranty.
A job in progress — Baytown care home
Job notes · Baytown, assisted living facility (in progress)
A facility we have looked after for the last three or four years. Their kitchen drains had been backing up. We cleared them, but the customer still had a smell and was getting gnats in the kitchen no matter how much they cleaned. They were also noticing more and more water surfacing outside around the building. Best estimate is the line has been leaking since around 2020.
Scope: ninety-five to one hundred feet of tunneling, up to fifteen drains being replaced. All of it underground, with the building open and residents in it throughout.
That last sentence is the point. This facility cannot close, cannot relocate residents, and cannot have its kitchen out of use. Tunneling is what makes the job possible at all.
How the work goes
- Diagnosis. Clear the line, then camera it to find out what it is doing and exactly where. The camera location is what decides where we dig.
- Scope and quote. You get told what we found, what we would replace, and what it costs, before anything is dug.
- Tunnel. Excavated from outside, in to the affected run.
- Replace. Damaged sections out, new pipe in, anchored to the underside of the slab with hangers.
- Test. We test it, and we have you run water through it yourself.
- Camera again. Before any backfill goes in, so what you are paying for is verified while it is still visible.
- Backfill and restore.
Yard lines and partial replacements
Not every sewer problem is under the slab. A break in the yard run between the house and the city connection is a more straightforward dig, and where the rest of the line is sound we replace the affected section rather than selling you the whole run.
What we will not do is patch a line that has moved. If the ground under a pipe has shifted enough to pull a joint apart, a patch at that joint puts you back in the same position in a couple of years.
Financing
Sewer line work and tunneling is where price is usually the real objection, and it is one of the jobs financing was made for. Financing is available through Acorn Finance and appears as an option on the estimate we send you — so the first step is asking for a quote. See financing.
Related services
Drain cleaning is where most of these jobs start. Hydro jetting often comes first so the line can be seen. Camera inspection is what turns a guess into a scope.
Questions we get asked about this
Sewer line repair in your area
In Baytown specifically, see sewer line repair and replacement in Baytown. We repair and replace sewer lines in Baytown, Mont Belvieu, Anahuac and across the rest of our service area. A sewage backup is an emergency — see 24-hour service.
Common questions
What does tunneling mean, and why would I want it?
Tunneling means the work happens underneath the slab instead of through the floor. For a business that cannot close, or a house you are living in, that is the difference between staying open and shutting down. Nobody cuts through your flooring, and there is no concrete to break out and repour inside the building.
What stops the new pipe from failing the same way?
New pipe is anchored into the concrete slab with hangers, not 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.
How long does a tunnel job take?
On a fifteen-foot residential tunnel in Clear Lake it was one day to dig the tunnel, 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. Larger commercial jobs run considerably longer.
What does it mean if my line is holding water?
It means the line has lost its fall, which is the slope that makes a drain work. That happens when the pipe moves, and in a slab house that means the ground under it moved. It is why a line that keeps backing up does not get fixed by cabling it again.
I have gnats and a smell in the kitchen but the drains run. Is that plumbing?
It can be, and most people do not make that connection. A drain that clears but still smells, gnats that will not go away no matter how much you clean, and water surfacing outside the building - those together usually mean a broken line under the slab, not a blockage.
Can you do this work while a building stays open?
That is the main reason to tunnel. At an assisted living facility in Baytown we are doing ninety-five to one hundred feet of tunneling and up to fifteen drains, all of it underground, with the building open and residents in it throughout.
Last updated · written by a licensed master plumber, MPL 38224