Wahl Family Heating, Cooling and Plumbing, Pittsburgh PA

For a “Happy Home” Get Wahl

Wahl Family Heating, Cooling and Plumbing, Pittsburgh PA
Pittsburgh Sewer, Drain & Underground Plumbing | Wahl Family Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
Sewer · Drain · Underground Plumbing

Pittsburgh's Sewer & Underground Plumbing Specialists

From a snake in a kitchen sink to a full sewer replacement with county-approved concrete restoration — we are the only call you need to make. Master-plumber owned since 1980. Licensed & insured throughout Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania.

24/7 Emergency Response
A+ BBB Rating
45+ Years In Business
1,500+ 5-Star Reviews
100% In-House Crews
24/7 Emergency Service
One Company. One Warranty.

When it goes wrong underground, you don't have time to call three companies.

Most plumbers can run a snake. A few can run a camera. Almost none can dig the yard, replace the line, pour the concrete, and walk you through the Allegheny County inspection.

We do all of it — in-house. With our own crews, our own excavator, and our own concrete and restoration team.

"We'll leave your home better than we found it. That's the deal."

That's why our customers don't get bounced from contractor to contractor when the job gets real. One company. One warranty. One promise.

📞 Talk to a Real Person Now
Wahl Family master plumber on Pittsburgh underground job
Why Homeowners Pick Us

What you get with every Wahl job

🎖️

Master Plumber Owned

Run by a Pennsylvania-licensed master plumber. The standard is set on every single job — by the owner of the company.

🚨

24/7 Emergency Response

Sewage backing up at 2am? We answer the phone — and we come out. No weekend surcharge games.

⛏️

In-House Excavation

We don't sub out the dig. Our excavator. Our operator. Our schedule. One company, one warranty.

💰

Upfront Flat-Rate Pricing

You know the number before we start. No surprise invoices. If the scope changes, we stop and re-quote.

🛡️

Licensed & Insured

Pennsylvania master plumber license. Fully insured. Certificate available on request — or just ask the tech in your driveway.

Workmanship Guaranteed

We back every job in writing. If we did it, we stand behind it. Period.

Full Underground Capability

Sewer, Drain & Underground Services

Everything beneath your home or yard — diagnosed, fixed, and restored by one crew.

🎥 Rigid Camera Sewer Inspections

Professional-grade Rigid push cameras and self-leveling locators put eyes inside your line. You see what we see on the screen. We record the inspection and send you the file. No diagnosis without proof.

When you need it:
  • Buying a home (pre-purchase inspection)
  • Recurring backups in the same drain
  • Mystery smells, slow drains, gurgling toilets
  • After tree roots, settling, or heavy rain

💧 Hydro Jetting

High-pressure water — up to 4,000 PSI — scours the inside of the pipe back to bare metal or bare clay. Grease, scale, roots, sludge: gone. A snake punches a hole through a clog. A jetter removes it.

When jetting is the right call:
  • Restaurants and commercial grease lines
  • Recurring residential clogs
  • Root intrusion in mainlines
  • Pre-lining or pre-coating cleanings

🔧 Sectional Machine Drain Cleaning

For tighter lines — kitchen branches, lavatory drains, tubs — where a full jetter is overkill. Professional sectional machines with the right cable for the pipe. Right tool, right line, right result.

Best for:
  • Kitchen sink and dishwasher lines
  • Bathroom sinks, tubs, showers
  • Laundry tubs and floor drains
  • Small branch lines under 2 inches

🛠️ Sewer Line Replacement

When a sewer line is collapsed, bellied, or made of failing Orangeburg or clay tile, replacement is the honest answer. We dig the trench, set new SDR-35 or schedule-40 PVC to spec, tie into the city main correctly, backfill to code, and restore the surface — all by Wahl crews.

What's included:
  • Permits + municipal coordination
  • Excavation with our own equipment
  • New pipe to code + final tie-in
  • Backfill, concrete, and final grade

🕳️ Trenchless Pipe Repair

Not every job needs the yard torn open. Pipe bursting, cured-in-place lining (CIPP), and spot repairs replace the line through two small access pits instead of a 60-foot trench. We'll tell you honestly when trenchless fits — and when it doesn't.

You're a trenchless candidate if:
  • Pipe path is mostly straight
  • Line isn't completely collapsed
  • You want to save driveway/landscape/trees
  • Depth is consistent and accessible

🏠 Building Drain Replacement

The pipe under your basement floor that collects every drain in the house. When cast iron rusts through or clay tile cracks, you don't smell it until you smell it. We cut, excavate, replace, re-bed, and pour new concrete to match — camera-verified before close-up.

Signs you need it:
  • Sewage smell in the basement
  • Water or sewage seeping through floor
  • Slow drains throughout the house
  • Cast iron 50+ years old

🧱 Concrete Work & Restoration

Most plumbers leave a pile of dirt and a hole in your floor. We don't. Our team pours, finishes, and saw-cuts concrete — basement floors, sidewalks, driveways, garage slabs, sewer cleanout boxes. When we leave, the only sign we were there is a working drain.

We handle:
  • Basement floor restoration
  • Sidewalk and driveway saw-cuts
  • Garage slab repairs
  • Outdoor cleanout boxes

⛏️ Backfill & Site Restoration

Proper backfill is a real engineering job — wrong material or wrong compaction causes that soft spot in the yard a year later. We backfill in lifts with the correct material (limestone, 2A, or native), compact properly, and finish to the original grade.

Why it matters:
  • Prevents soil settling and sinkholes
  • Protects the new pipe from shifting
  • Meets municipal inspection standards
  • Restores landscape grade properly

📋 Allegheny County Dye Tests & Inspections

Selling a home in Allegheny County? Most municipalities require a dye test or video inspection before transfer. Failed test? You need a contractor who can move fast and pull permits the next morning. We do this weekly. We know your inspector.

We handle:
  • Dye test + video inspection
  • Municipality-formatted reports
  • Point repairs and replacements
  • Permit pulling in every township

Rain Leader & Downspout Drains

A "rain leader" is the underground pipe carrying water from your downspouts away from the foundation. When they clog or collapse, water goes in your basement — and many Pittsburgh municipalities require code-mandated separation from your sanitary sewer.

We do:
  • Camera inspection of rain leaders
  • Sanitary/storm separation jobs
  • Failing pipe replacement (proper-pitch PVC)
  • Tie-ins to storm, dry wells, or daylight

🚨 Emergency Sewer & Drain Service

We answer the phone at 11pm on a Sunday. We come out. We bring the camera and the jetter the first trip. We do not stack trip charges, diagnostic fees, and weekend fees on top of the bill. One upfront price, just like a weekday call.

Call us 24/7 for:
  • Sewage backing up into the home
  • Burst lines, flooding basements
  • Frozen or collapsed underground pipes
  • Weekend dye-test failures before closing
The Difference

Why we're built different on underground work

Sewer and drain work is where most plumbing companies show their seams. Here's where we don't.

01

We own the whole job

Most plumbing companies sub-contract excavation, concrete, and restoration to two or three other crews. Every handoff is a chance for the schedule to slip and the warranty to disappear. Our excavator. Our concrete crew. Our restoration team.

02

We know old-Pittsburgh pipe

Cast iron from the 50s. Clay tile from the 30s. Orangeburg from the 60s. Lead bends. Galvanized eaten through. Pittsburgh has the country's oldest housing stock, and we've fixed all of it.

03

We don't sell the job that isn't there

If snaking solves it, we snake it. If a spot repair beats a full replacement, we do the spot repair. We get one shot at being your plumber for life — we won't blow it.

04

Price before we touch it

You get the flat-rate price upfront — in writing — before we start. If the scope changes mid-dig, we stop, re-quote, you decide. No "well, it got more complicated" call from the field.

05

Master-plumber owned

Not investor-owned. The owner started in the field at 19, holds a Pennsylvania master plumber license, and still walks the big jobs. When the standard slips on a Wahl job, the owner's name is on the truck.

06

We're your neighbors

Family-owned in Oakdale, PA since 1980. We sponsor your kid's team. We worship at your church. We don't disappear after the check clears — because we'll see you at the grocery store on Saturday.

Know What's Under Your House

The Pittsburgh Pipe Tour

Most Pittsburgh-area homes have one of these underground. A 30-minute camera inspection tells you which — and what it means.

1900–1975

Cast Iron

Strong, but rusts from the inside out. The bottom goes first — creating a "channel" where the pipe looks fine from above but is essentially a half-pipe full of sewage.

Pre-1960

Clay Tile

Held together by hub joints. Tree roots find every joint. Once cracked, the cracks propagate fast. Common in older Pittsburgh and South Hills neighborhoods.

1945–1972

Orangeburg

Bituminized fiber pipe — basically tar paper rolled into a tube. Sold as permanent. Was not. If your home was built in this window and the sewer hasn't been replaced, assume Orangeburg until a camera proves otherwise.

1975–Present

PVC

The modern standard. SDR-35 or schedule-40. When it fails, it's almost always at a fitting, a tie-in, or because the bedding settled — not because the pipe itself failed.

What To Expect

How a Wahl sewer job actually goes

No mystery. No surprises. Here's the playbook from your first call to the final inspection.

1

Call or Book Online

Same-day appointments most days. 24/7 emergency. A real Pittsburgh-based person answers — not a robot.

2

On-Site Camera Inspection

We bring the camera the first trip. You watch the screen with the tech. We diagnose what's actually wrong.

3

Flat-Rate Quote In Writing

Multiple options (snake, jet, trenchless, full replacement). Standard and Wahl Club member pricing. Your call.

4

We Do The Work

Wahl crews, Wahl equipment, Wahl warranty. Permits pulled. Inspector coordinated. Concrete and restoration included.

5

Camera Verification + Sign-Off

We camera the finished line. You see it works. Written workmanship guarantee in your hand before we pull off.

A failed sewer line is the home repair nobody saves for.

We get it. That's why we offer real financing — no high-pressure sales pitch, just options.

0% Interest for Qualified Buyers
Same-Day Approval
Up to 120-Month Terms
No Prepayment Penalty
📞 Discuss Financing With a Real Person
Where We Work

Serving All of Allegheny County

Based in Oakdale, PA — covering Pittsburgh and every township in between. If you're a short drive from Allegheny County, call us anyway. We probably cover you.

Pittsburgh
Mt. Lebanon
Bethel Park
Upper St. Clair
Robinson
Moon
Coraopolis
Sewickley
Carnegie
Bridgeville
McMurray
Peters Twp
Cranberry
Wexford
Ross
McCandless
Shaler
Fox Chapel
Penn Hills
Monroeville
Plum
Murrysville
West Mifflin
Pleasant Hills
Jefferson Hills
South Park
Oakdale
+ More
Real Answers

Sewer & Drain FAQs

The questions we get every week from Pittsburgh-area homeowners.

How much does a sewer line replacement cost in Pittsburgh?
Honest answer: it depends. Trenchless spot repairs can start around $3,500. A full traditional sewer replacement runs from roughly $7,000 to $25,000+ depending on depth, length, pipe material, what's above the line (driveway? front porch? sidewalk?), and what the township requires. We give you the exact number — in writing — before we touch the ground.
Will my homeowners insurance cover this?
Usually no — most policies exclude sewer line failures unless you bought a specific rider. But: many homeowners discover after the fact that they did add the rider. Call your agent before you decide how to pay. We can wait a day.
Do I really need a camera inspection before you give me a quote?
On any underground job, yes. We will not quote a sewer replacement based on a guess. The camera tells us whether you need full replacement, a spot repair, or just a cleaning — and that decision can be a $20,000 swing in your favor.
How long does the job take?
A spot repair or trenchless job is usually one day. A full open-trench sewer replacement with concrete restoration runs two to four days depending on depth and conditions. We give you the exact schedule before we start, and you can call the owner if it slips.
Do you handle the township paperwork and inspections?
Yes. We pull the permits, coordinate the inspection, and meet the inspector on-site. We do business in every Allegheny County municipality and know how each one wants the paperwork formatted. You don't need to take a day off work.
What if you find something worse once you dig?
We stop, we show you, we re-quote, you decide. No "we already started, so you have to pay for it." That's not how we do business.
Do you offer financing on sewer replacement?
Yes. 0% for qualified buyers, same-day approval, terms up to 120 months, no prepayment penalty. Most sewer customers finance some portion of the work — it's the home repair nobody saves for.
What's an Allegheny County dye test and do I need one?
A dye test is a municipal inspection that verifies your sanitary and storm lines are properly separated and not connected to each other. Most Allegheny County municipalities require one before a home sale closes. We perform the test, file the report in the format your municipality requires, and handle any required repairs to bring the property into compliance.
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes. Pennsylvania master plumber license. Fully insured (general liability and workers' comp). License and certificate of insurance available on request — or just ask the tech in the driveway, he'll show you on his phone.
What's the difference between snaking and hydro jetting?
A snake (or "auger") punches a hole through the clog so water can pass. Cheaper, faster, often the right call. Hydro jetting uses high-pressure water to scour the entire inside of the pipe back to clean — it removes the clog instead of just penetrating it. We use snakes for most residential drains and jetting for grease, scale, roots, or recurring problems.

Got a backup, a smell, or a soft spot in the yard?

Don't wait. The faster we get a camera in there, the smaller the bill. Same-day appointments most days. 24/7 emergency response.

Phone 412-204-6360
Office Hours Mon–Fri 7am – 5pm
Emergency 24/7/365
Address 1 Willow Ave
Oakdale, PA 15071
📞