What is a Drain Back Water Valve or Back Up Prevention Valve – and why do you need one?

There is nothing worse than seeing water in your basement. Why is water coming up your floor drains? Where is it coming from? How can you make it stop? Fortunately, you can stop sewer water from going back into your home by installing an attachment called a Back Water Valve. This valve, which is also […]

Everything You Need to Know About Sewer Backwater Valve Installation

As a homeowner, do you know if your sewer system has a sewer backwater valve installed? Usually, when you flush the toilet or drain the tub, all that water goes down the sewer line that’s connected to your home and eventually out to sea. But there’s always a chance that your system could get backed […]

Replacing Old Clay Basement Drain Piping

Older houses often have clay basement drain piping installed beneath a concrete slab floor. These systems can go decades without problems, but when problems occur usually the best thing to do is to replace the old clay pipe. Why Replace Clay Drain Pipes? Root Infiltration Clay pipe is usually found in sections ranging from 12 […]

If your home is located in a high-risk flood zone

The City of Toronto is offering a one-time subsidy of up to $3400 to eligible property owners of single family, duplex and triplex homes. This subsidy is based on a first-come, first-serve basis and is specific to the installation in high-risk flood zone of Flood Prevention Devices; limited to: backwater valves; sump pumps; and severance […]

Drain and Sewer Preventative Maintenance

The keys to a successful preventative maintenance of drain and sewer systems are regular attention and, pre-emptive steps to deal with problems, and proper construction. Effective maintenance yields multiple benefits: increased performance of the system, lower costs of operation, and a longer lifespan. A properly maintained system will carry outflows more efficiently, giving it greater […]

Excavating and Replacing Drain and Sewer Pipes

Problems with drain and sewer pipes can take a number of forms, and be solved in a number of ways, but in some cases the only remaining solution is replacement. Arriving at the need to replace piping is usually a process of ruling out less invasive options. In most cases, the decision to replace piping […]

Battery Backup for Sump Pump Systems

Sump pump systems are often a last line of defence against basement flooding, and for that reason their reliability is key. A sump pump will need to predictably detect rising water levels in the sump well, and start in response. A primary sump pump systems, attached to AC mains power will generally be all that […]

Preparing Drain and Sewer Systems for House Inspections

Building up to Code Making sure that a home’s drain and sewer systems is ready for and will meet Ontario Building Code standards for its materials and construction is a complex task that requires professional expertise of the sort Master Drain can offer. To meet these Code requirements, numerous construction materials and methods need to […]

Kitchen and Laundry Snaking

As when dealing with bathroom clogs, clearing clogs in kitchen sinks and laundry tubs is a matter of taking a staged approach: first try the simplest and easiest approaches. If those don’t solve the problem, move on to more complicated and ultimately effective techniques. Laundry snaking is often unnecessary when other methods have been successfully […]

Bathroom Snaking: Toilet, Sink, and Tub

Bathroom snaking plumbing fixtures is a very effective way of clearing blockages that are not far from the fixture itself, and in fact the vast majority of blockages are in this category. Typically, bathrooms have three standard fixtures: a tub/shower, a basin, and a toilet. Each of these three is capable of developing a blockage, […]