Sewer & Drain Services

Pipe Descaling

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We get it done right the first time, every time.

If you're looking for a team that will get the job done right, on-time, and when you need it, then you've found the right people.

Grinds hard scale and rust off old cast iron pipe walls
Brand-new Picote Maxi Miller and Mini Miller machines
Sized for 2-inch branch drains up to commercial mains
Camera inspection before and after, so you see the difference
Flat, up-front pricing before any work begins

Camera before, camera after.

Every descaling job starts with a camera inspection, so we can see how much scale there is, where it is, and whether the pipe underneath is sound enough to descale. When we're done, we run the camera again so you can see clean pipe for yourself.

We'll also be straight with you: in very old cast iron, scale sometimes hides thin spots, cracks, or holes. If the camera shows the pipe is too far gone, we'll tell you and lay out your options, from a spot repair to lining, instead of selling you a cleaning that won't hold. The price is flat and quoted before we start.

Old cast iron drains don't just clog. They scale up from the inside, closing the pipe down until paper, grease, and wipes have nowhere to go. Descaling grinds that buildup off the pipe wall and gives you back the full opening of the line.

What is scale?

Scale is the hard, crusty buildup that forms on the inside walls of cast iron drain and sewer pipe. Most of it is rust. As the iron slowly corrodes, it forms rough bumps and ridges on the pipe wall. Minerals, soap, and hardened grease bond to that rough surface and add more layers over time. On camera it looks like the pipe is lined with jagged rock, and in a badly scaled line the opening can shrink to a fraction of its original size.

Why scale happens

Age. Many homes in Edina, St. Louis Park, Hopkins, and Minnetonka were built with cast iron drains, and the inside of that pipe has been corroding for decades. Most West Metro sewers start as cast iron before switching to clay tile out in the yard.
Sewer gas. Wastewater gives off hydrogen sulfide gas. Mixed with moisture, it forms an acid that eats at the top of the pipe, the part that isn't constantly under water.
Hard water. Much of the West Metro has hard water, and its minerals add to the buildup on rough pipe walls.
Grease and soap. Rough scale catches grease and soap residue, which hardens and catches more. Every layer makes the next clog more likely.

Signs your line is scaled up

Slow drains that come back a few weeks after a cabling
Repeat clogs in the same line, often a kitchen, laundry, or basement floor drain
A camera that can't get past a section of pipe
A backup in an older home where roots aren't the cause

What descaling is

Descaling is mechanical cleaning of the pipe wall. We run a flexible, high-speed rotating shaft down the line with a chain head or descaling tool sized to the pipe. As it spins, it knocks scale, rust, and hardened buildup off the walls, and water carries the debris away. We work the line in passes, check our progress on camera, and keep going until we're down to clean pipe.

It's different from cabling, and it's different from hydro jetting. A drain cable punches a hole through a clog. A hydro jetter uses high-pressure water to scour soft material like grease, sludge, and roots. Heavy scale on cast iron is hard and bonded to the pipe, and the reliable way to get it off is to grind it off. Some lines need both: descaling to remove the hard buildup, then a flush or jetting to clear what's left.

Descaling is also the required first step before a pipe can be lined. A liner or epoxy coating can't bond to scaled pipe, so lining contractors need it ground down to clean cast iron first.

Our equipment: brand-new Picote Millers

We descale with brand-new, state-of-the-art Picote Maxi Miller and Mini Miller machines. Picote is a Finnish manufacturer whose Millers are used by drain cleaning and pipe lining professionals around the world for descaling, root cutting, and pipe restoration.

Picote Mini Miller: built for 2- to 4-inch lines, the kitchen, bathroom, laundry, and floor drain branches and the stacks inside your house. Its flexible shaft works through the bends in small-diameter pipe.
Picote Maxi Miller: the heavy-duty unit for 3- to 10-inch pipe, including main building drains, long cast iron runs in apartment buildings, and commercial lines.

Between the two, we can descale nearly every drain line in a home or commercial building, from a 2-inch kitchen branch to a large commercial main.

What we're finding in West Metro lines

Scaled 2-inch cast iron behind newer fixtures. In older buildings we've found new plastic tub drains tied into original 2-inch cast iron that's scaled up inside and keeps catching hair and debris. Another cabling buys time. Descaling fixes the cause.
A scaled section behind a basement backup. After clearing a backup with sewage standing in a basement bathroom, the camera showed roots, wipes, and a scaled-up cast iron section. Descaling that section is what prevents the next one.
Long mains in apartment buildings. In older apartment buildings with cast iron lines over 100 feet, we've seen scale narrow the pipe enough to stop a camera.
A main line and a floor drain branch in one visit. In a Bloomington home, the sewer ran cast iron out to 65 feet, where 4-inch cast iron steps up to 6-inch clay. We descaled it with the Maxi Miller in 5-foot sections, working from the clay back to the cleanout, then made two jetting passes out to the city connection at 82 feet. When the basement floor drain backed up afterward, we ran the Mini Miller through its 2-inch cast iron branch, about 25 to 30 feet to the main. Both lines were draining well when we left. Read the full job.

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