A Clogged Sewer Line - How To Clear

The first sign was a gurgle. Not from one toilet, but all of them. When I flushed the upstairs bathroom, the downstairs shower hissed back like a warning. Then came the smell—sulfur and decay drifting up from the basement drain.

I had a clogged main sewer line. And I had three choices: call a plumber for $500, ignore it until sewage backed up into the tub, or try to fix it myself. how to clear a clogged sewer line

I rented a drain auger (snake) from the hardware store—a 100-foot heavy-duty one with a corkscrew tip. A hand-crank snake is fine for a sink, but for a 4-inch sewer line? You need power. I fed the cable into the cleanout, cranked the handle, and felt it slither 30 feet until… thunk . The cable stopped dead. The first sign was a gurgle

I ran upstairs and flushed the toilet. This time, instead of gurgling, the water roared through the pipes and vanished. No backup. No smell. Then came the smell—sulfur and decay drifting up