Drain Cleaning
A kitchen line in a 1960s Urbandale house may have carried grease for sixty years. We clear it from the fixture or a cleanout and check whether old iron is narrowing the flow.
Learn moreWHY URBANDALE LINES FAIL
How Urbandale's Post-War Boom
Shapes Its Drain and Sewer Calls
Urbandale’s drain and sewer problems follow its building booms: the city grew from 1,777 residents in 1950 to 14,434 in 1970, so a large share of its homes carry piping that is now more than half a century old. According to the city’s history of Urbandale, it was incorporated on April 16, 1917, as a streetcar suburb of Des Moines. The line’s old turnaround at 70th Street and Roseland Drive is now Trolley Park, and the blocks around it hold some of the oldest plumbing in town.
The 2010 Census counted 39,463 people, and the city now describes itself as home to more than 45,500 residents, at the junction of Interstate 35, Interstate 80 and Iowa Highway 141. That spread produces three kinds of calls:
- Post-war neighborhoods on the east side. Sewers from the 1950s and 1960s were commonly clay or cast iron. Roots enter clay at the joints, and iron scales and rusts from the inside.
- Newer subdivisions toward the west. Plastic pipe does not rust, but a sewer laid in backfilled soil can settle into a low spot that holds waste.
- Older commercial blocks on Douglas Avenue. The city adopted a Downtown Master Plan in June 2025 to redevelop the eastern Douglas corridor. An older building taking a new tenant deserves a camera look at its lines.
Ground water adds pressure. The city’s creek and stream program places most of Urbandale in the Walnut Creek watershed, with the northeast corner draining to Beaver Creek, and notes that high rainfall in 2025 eroded creek channels in Days Run Open Space. Long wet spells soak the soil around foundations and laterals, which is when slow floor drains and busy sump pumps fill our schedule.
We camera every Urbandale sewer line before quoting. A rooted line can usually be cleaned, while a cracked, sagging or collapsed one gets repair or replacement options, trenchless where the pipe allows. Iowa plumbing work follows the 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code, in effect since March 26, 2025.
Owner Jarod Smith founded Clog Busters in 2020. Our Des Moines branch at 3950 Vandalia Rd serves Urbandale and the wider Des Moines metro. See our sewer services in Urbandale and Urbandale drain camera inspections, or schedule service in Urbandale.
