Fort Washington is an unincorporated Potomac riverfront community where WSSC Water provides the public sewer and issues plumbing permits. When the line from a Fort Washington house to the main backs up, cracks or fills with roots, a plumber holding a WSSC license handles the repair. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Fort Washington.
Fort Washington stayed rural until about 1960 and then filled in with suburban neighborhoods, riverfront homes and marinas along the Potomac. The median house dates to about 1980, which puts a lot of local sewer lines in their forties and fifties. Hilly, wooded lots are common, and big trees mean roots. On a sloped lot the sewer line can also run deeper than you'd expect at the street end, which matters when a section has to be dug up. Here is how to handle a backup and what to expect.
What to do now
- Turn off anything sending water down the drains: washer, dishwasher, showers.
- Check the street. Sewage from a manhole or trouble at several homes means calling WSSC Water's emergency line, 301-206-4002.
- Keep everyone away from standing sewage and wear gloves if you have to move belongings.
- Locate the outdoor or basement cleanout so the plumber can get to it.
- Don't pour drain chemicals into a backed-up line.
- Call the number on this page and say which fixture overflowed first.
Reading the symptoms
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Lowest drain in the house backs up first | Blockage in the building sewer |
| Gurgling toilet when the tub drains | Air trapped by a partial clog downstream |
| Clog comes back within a month | Roots or a broken joint catching debris |
| Sunken strip of lawn along the line | Pipe collapse or soil washing into a crack |
| Sewer odor near the foundation | Leaking joint or cracked cleanout |
What affects the price
- Slope of the lot and how deep the line runs
- Trees, retaining walls or driveways along the route
- Length of damaged pipe and its material
- Lining versus excavating and replacing a section
- WSSC permit and inspection, arranged by the plumber
Prince George's County issues no plumbing permits itself; WSSC Water handles them, and its rules call for a plumber holding a WSSC license on sewer service line repairs. A camera inspection usually comes first, because it shows the plumber exactly what the repair involves.
Homes built during Fort Washington's growth after 1960 often have cast iron or clay sewer pipe, while houses from the 1980s onward usually have plastic. Each fails differently: older pipe tends to crack, scale up and let roots in, while plastic is more likely to sag or separate where the ground settled. Knowing which you have narrows the options quickly, and the footage also gives you something concrete to compare if you ask a second plumber to look.
Sewer Line Repair questions in Fort Washington
Why do tree roots keep getting into my sewer line?
What happens to my lawn, driveway or patio during the repair?
Sewage is coming up through a basement floor drain. What should I do first?
Who is responsible for the sewer pipe between my house and the main?
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