We run these calls every week across Norwalk, Whittier, Downey, Bellflower, and La Mirada. We're licensed, bonded, and insured, every clear is quoted in writing before we touch the trap, and there's no money down. If it's something you can safely plunge or clean yourself first, we'll tell you that too instead of selling you a service call.
Plumber for a clogged sink: what we actually do on-site
A clogged sink clears in one of three ways, and we pick the right one before we make a mess. First we pull and inspect the P-trap under the sink, because on a single fixture that traps the grease, food, and hair 8 times out of 10 and there is nothing further down to snake. If the trap is clear, we run a hand auger or a 25-foot mini-snake down the trap arm into the branch, using small-line cable so we don't crack the slip joints or the old cast iron drain common in the 1950s and 1960s slab tract homes around here. We bag the mess, run water under load to confirm the line holds, and reset the trap with fresh washers. Most fixture clogs are a 30 to 60 minute job. If the snake hits a hard stop past the branch, that's a different problem and we'll say so.
Kitchen sink clogged on both sides (double-basin backup)
When one basin fills up as the other drains, the clog is almost always downstream of the tee that joins the two bowls, in the shared trap arm or the branch line past it, not in either bowl itself. That is why plunging one side just pushes water into the other. In a Norwalk kitchen the usual cause is a grease plug: warm grease pours down fine, then congeals in the horizontal run and grabs coffee grounds, rice, and eggshell until the pipe is a solid tube of it. Our hard SoCal water, roughly 10 to 17 grains per gallon across southeast LA County, leaves scale on the pipe wall that gives the grease something to cling to. We clear the shared line from the cleanout or through the trap, then run hot water and both basins at once to confirm the whole tee flows. If the same double-basin clog comes back inside a few months, the branch line itself needs attention and we move to camera and line work.
Bathroom sink draining slow: hair, soap scale, and the pop-up
A bathroom sink that drains slow but not fully is a different animal from a kitchen clog. The culprit is usually a wad of hair and soap scum caught on the pop-up stopper pivot rod right at the top of the drain body, not a deep blockage at all. We pull the pop-up, clear the pivot and the tailpiece, and check the trap. If the drain still crawls after that, the branch has soap-scale narrowing, common in older bathrooms on hard water, and a short snake down the trap arm opens it back up. We do not run a big main-line machine into a 1-1/4 inch lavatory drain, because that is how slip joints and old chrome tailpieces get destroyed. Right size cable, right result.
Clogged sink with a garbage disposal
A disposal complicates a sink clog in two ways, and the fix depends on which. If the disposal hums but won't spin, the impellers are jammed, not the drain. We free the flywheel with the hex wrench at the base, clear whatever locked it, and it usually drains fine after. If the disposal spins clean but the sink still backs up, the clog is downstream in the drain line, often the discharge tube running to the trap, which people pack with potato peels, coffee grounds, and fibrous scraps that a disposal grinds but never truly liquefies. We pull the discharge and trap, clear the branch, and check that the drain pitches downhill the way it should, since a disposal drain that runs flat or uphill clogs no matter how well the unit works. If your disposal itself is failing or leaking at the flange, that is a swap rather than a clog clear.
When a clogged sink is not our call yet (and when it is a bigger job)
Here is the honest version. If it's a single slow bathroom sink and you haven't pulled the pop-up and cleaned the hair off it, do that first, it's free and it fixes most of them. A plunger on a kitchen sink with a wet rag stuffed in the overflow or the second basin clears plenty of soft food clogs before anyone needs to come out. But if the same sink clogs again within a month or two, if more than one fixture is slow at the same time, or if you hear the toilet gurgle when the sink drains, this is no longer a fixture clog. That pattern means the branch or main line is the problem, and snaking the sink over and over just delays the real diagnosis. That's a camera-and-clear job, not a trap pull, and we handle it on our drain cleaning service instead. We'd rather point you to the right fix than clear the same trap three times.
Got questions?
Frequently asked questions
My sink is clogged past the P-trap. Can you still clear it?
Yes. When the P-trap is clear but the sink still won't drain, the clog is in the trap arm or the branch line beyond it. We run a right-sized hand auger or a 25-foot small-line cable down the trap arm into the branch to clear it, using cable sized to the pipe so we don't damage old slip joints or cast iron. If the blockage is well past the branch, or the same clog keeps returning, that points to a deeper line problem that a camera inspection sorts out, which is our drain cleaning service.
Why does my sink keep clogging over and over?
A sink that reclogs within weeks isn't a one-time blockage, it's a warning about the line itself. The three we find most in Norwalk-area homes: grease and scale narrowing an older kitchen branch line, a drain that pitches too flat or uphill so waste sits instead of flowing (common on DIY disposal installs), or a partial blockage further down the branch that a quick snake only pokes a hole through instead of clearing. Repeat kitchen clogs on hard water are especially common because mineral scale gives grease a surface to build on. If clearing the trap keeps buying you only a few weeks, we'd camera the line and clear it properly rather than snake the same spot again.
Are you licensed, bonded and insured?
Yes. Nava's Elite Plumbing carries a current California master plumber registration, $1M general liability coverage, and workers' comp on every technician. A certificate of insurance naming you or your property manager is available on request before we start.
Do you give upfront pricing?
Every job is quoted in writing before any work begins. We price by scope, not by the hour, so the number you approve is the number you pay — barring scope changes you approve in writing.
Do you require money down?
No deposit on standard service calls. On larger projects (repipes, sewer replacements, gas line installs) we phase work into progress payments tied to city inspection milestones — you never pay ahead of completed work.