Service area

Plumbing in Kirkwood and East Atlanta

Two neighbourhoods on the DeKalb side of Moreland Avenue, still inside the City of Atlanta, with some of the oldest and most root-bound sewer laterals in town.

Moss-covered tree roots spreading across the ground from the base of a trunk

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Kirkwood’s bungalows

Kirkwood grew as a railroad and streetcar suburb and voted to join Atlanta in 1922. The National Register nomination for its historic district describes many of its houses as one-storey bungalows from the first decades of the twentieth century. Those houses mostly sit on crawlspaces, with the drain running under the floor to a clay lateral out to the street. Add a century of water oak growth along Hosea L. Williams Drive and the side streets, and root intrusion is close to the default condition of a Kirkwood lateral that has never been replaced.

East Atlanta’s mix

East Atlanta has older bungalows near the village and a lot of post-war cottages further out, built quickly when the city was growing after the war. Those later houses are where bituminous fibre sewer pipe, the product sold as Orangeburg, still turns up. It softens and deforms with age and cannot be lined once it has gone oval, so a camera inspection on an East Atlanta cottage that has never had its lateral replaced is money well spent.

DeKalb County, City of Atlanta sewer

Being in DeKalb County does not change who runs the sewer here. Inside the city limits the City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management owns the main in the street, and under the city’s rule the owner maintains the whole lateral from the house to that main. If a whole block is backing up, report it to ATL311 before paying for anything on your own line.

Recurring backups on a Kirkwood or East Atlanta lateral are worth a camera look before the next clearing. Call or send the details.

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ZIP codes covered 30316 · 30317

Kirkwood & East Atlanta questions

My neighbour just replaced their lateral. Does that tell me anything?

It tells you the houses on your street were probably built with the same pipe at the same time. It does not tell you the condition of yours; only a camera does that.

Can roots come from my neighbour’s tree?

Yes. Roots follow moisture, not property lines. Who pays for a lateral repair is still the owner of the lateral, whatever tree the roots came from.

Services here

Also serving Atlanta , Decatur, Brookhaven, Sandy Springs.

Get a quote in Kirkwood & East Atlanta

Say what is happening and a local plumbing company will call you back within one business day. Phones answered Mon–Sat, 7am–7pm. Night cover is set by the plumber. Or call (470) 243-2699. If water is still coming in or sewage is coming up, call instead.