Rural Hall's in-town homes have long had public sewer, while the rural parts of the plan area are not on municipal sewer and use private onsite systems. With about half the town's homes built before 1980, aging pipe and roots are common reasons the line from the house fails. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Rural Hall.
Rural Hall incorporated in 1974, but a sanitary district had been providing water and sewer there since 1935. The town's current sewer operator isn't named in the sources we found. The 2016 Rural Hall Area Plan Update says the designated Rural Areas are not expected ever to receive public sewer, so homes there drain to private onsite wastewater systems. The housing skews older: the median Rural Hall home was built in 1980, and about 49% are older than that.
Steps to take when drains back up
- Turn off anything that's using water, including the washer, dishwasher and irrigation.
- Don't flush toilets until the line is cleared.
- Keep the area around an overflowing drain clear and dry as you can, and keep pets out.
- Avoid chemical drain cleaners; they don't fix a main line problem and can harm whoever opens the pipe.
- Check whether you get a sewer bill. That tells the plumber whether the pipe runs to a public main or to an onsite system's tank.
- Call to be connected with a local plumber, and describe which drains are affected and when it started.
Reading the symptoms
| What you notice | Probable cause |
|---|---|
| Slow drains in every bathroom | Blockage or damage in the main line |
| Backups after heavy rain | Groundwater entering cracked or loose joints |
| Clog returns soon after clearing | Roots or a broken section catching waste |
| Odor in the crawl space | Leaking joint or cracked pipe under the house |
| Soggy ground on a rural lot | Broken pipe to the tank, or an onsite system issue |
Cost factors
- Pipe material and age, since older clay or cast iron may be failing in more than one spot
- Length and depth of the run to the street or to the tank
- Repair method: dig, line or burst
- Driveways, trees or structures over the pipe
- Permits through the joint Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Inspections Division, which serves Rural Hall
For older in-town homes, it's worth asking the plumber about the condition of the whole line, not just the section that failed. On a rural property, ask whether the camera reached all the way to the tank, so you know the whole pipe was checked.
Sewer Line Repair questions in Rural Hall
What kind of sewer pipe is likely under an older house here?
My home isn't on municipal sewer. Do I still have a drain line that can fail?
Why does my sewer back up after a heavy rain?
Sewage is rising in my lowest drain. What should I do right now?
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Sources
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