For drain cleaning in Ajax, Hayes Plumbing dispatches a licensed plumber out of our Oshawa shop to homes from the Pickering Village heritage area on Old Kingston Road to Discovery Bay, Southwood, Riverside and Westney Heights. The plumber works out which line is blocked and opens it, most often with a motorized drain snake. When grease or sludge lines the whole pipe we can switch to hydro jetting, and when a line blocks repeatedly we look inside it with a camera before recommending any repair. Every price is set out in writing before the work begins.
Where Ajax drains lead
Every toilet, sink, tub, shower, washing machine and basement floor drain in an Ajax house empties into the Region of Durham's sanitary sewer. Rain and snowmelt go elsewhere: storm and sanitary sewers are separate systems in Ajax, a point made in the Town's Stormwater Management Master Plan. So when dirty water comes back up a floor drain or a toilet, the trouble is somewhere along the sanitary line, and the job is to find out where.
The Region says that line is meant for human waste, toilet paper and wastewater only. Its do-not-flush list takes in wipes of every kind, even those sold as flushable, along with cotton balls, hygiene products, hair, food scraps and grease. Hair, grease, soap, food waste, paper and tree roots are what we pull out of blocked drains, so keeping the first five out of your pipes goes a long way.
Water coming up the basement floor drain
A backup through the floor drain can start in several places, and each one belongs to someone different:
- A blockage in your own drain pipe. When flooding comes from a blocked pipe on your own lot, the Region leaves the repairs to the owner, and clearing that pipe is the work we do.
- A blocked connection past your property line. If the Region's Works Department finds the backup off your property, its crew clears the stretch between the street sewer and your property line. Phone 311 (or 905-668-7711) to reach the Region; after hours, the number is 905-576-9991.
- An overloaded sewer. The Region's list of basement flooding causes includes overloaded sewers forcing wastewater back out through floor drains and other low fixtures. Cleaning your own pipe does nothing against that; it is a job for a backwater valve, which we can quote.
- A failed sump pump. If the water is rising out of the sump pit rather than the drain, the pump is the first thing to check.
Snake, jet or camera: how we choose
- We start with the fixtures. One slow sink points to that sink's own drain, while a toilet that bubbles as the washer empties points further down, toward the main line.
- A motorized drain snake opens most blockages. It goes in through the fixture or through the main cleanout where the drain leaves the house.
- If the cable comes back coated in grease, or the line slowed again soon after an earlier cleaning, we recommend hydro jetting, because it scours the whole pipe wall instead of opening one channel.
- If the same line keeps blocking, a sewer camera inspection shows whether roots, a dip in the pipe or a crack is behind it, and how far along the line the problem sits.
What drain cleaning costs in Ajax
Our 2026 Oshawa plumbing cost guide prices drain cleaning at $150 to $400. Where a job lands in that range depends on how stubborn the clog is and how far down the line it is. Jetting needs more equipment and more time than a snake, so it is priced once we have looked at the line, and you see the figure in writing first.
If the camera shows broken pipe, the repair is a separate quote; the cost guide puts spot repairs to drain lines at $500 to $1,500. Replacing a section of pipe may also need a permit. In Ajax, you apply to the Town online or by emailing buildingpermits@ajax.ca, then call 905-619-2529 at least a day ahead to book each inspection.