Clog or broken pipe
Drain cleaning versus sewer repair
Cleaning removes a blockage. Repair replaces or patches a pipe that is broken. In Aurora the expensive version of the second job includes the service line to the tap and the street if you open it.
One slow fixture, with the rest of the house fine, is usually drain cleaning. Several fixtures, or sewage at the lowest drain, may be the building drain or the lateral. Then you want a camera before sewer repair. Aurora Water keeps the main. You keep the line from the tap to the building. A second cleaning the same week, without a video, often misses a crack or a belly.
Jetting is still cleaning. It is not a patch. See hydro-jetting.
Questions to settle first
The clog came back in two days. Now what?
Stop repeating the same cable. Ask for a camera from a cleanout toward the tap. If the pipe is open and round, another cleaning or a jet may be enough. If it is cracked or offset, you are in repair, and in Aurora that repair can include the tap and the street.
Who pays if the main is clear and my floor drain is not?
You do, if the defect is on your service line. Aurora Water's page says the owner maintains that line from the tap to the building. Ask them to confirm the main was checked. Do not pay for their main, and do not expect them to pay for yours.
Is jetting a repair?
No. It washes the pipe. A broken joint is still broken when the hose comes out. Camera first on older pipe. Aurora says pre-1985 homes can have clay, which is a reason to look, not a reason to blast.
