Plumbing in New Orleans is cast iron in the walls, yard lines with almost no fall, and drains that burp when the street is full. A raised shotgun may let you see the piping. A Gentilly or Lakeview slab will not. Say whether you have a clean drip, a sewage smell, or a backup that arrives with the rain.
Long houses put the kitchen and the bath far from the stack, and the slope is shy, so a washer makes the far fixture gurgle. Cast iron rusts through a chase and stains the ceiling below a camelback bath. Lead at an old tub weeps into joists. Galvanized supply flakes and cuts the flow to the last tap. Soft yard lines collapse. Live oak roots find the lateral under the walk.
When the street holds water, the main cannot take what the house sends, and a low floor drain or cleanout returns sewage. That is not the same job as a clogged lavatory, and it is not solved by pretending the roof leaked. Water heaters in low closets and under floors sweat in the wet air and rust the pan, and a unit sitting near grade can be drowned when the yard fills. Find the shutoff if it is reachable. Say whether it turns.
A ceiling stain under a bath can be the trap, the overflow, or wind-driven rain in the wall. Smell and a drip you can catch in a pan point at the pipe. A stain that grows only in a blow points at the roof or the window. Say which pattern you have so the wrong trade does not open the wrong hole. On slabs, a warm stripe or a hiss at night is the leak you feel instead of see. Mention it plainly.
Call with the neighborhood and the form. Raised shotgun, camelback, or slab ranch. Fixture, floor, and whether the failure is supply, drain, or backup in the rain. Say if oaks sit over the yard line and if the cleanout has burped before. Sewage and clean water should not share an adjective. The fall is poor in this city. The trade needs the path the water is taking, including when the path runs backward. Call the number on this page.