What Is Crawling Up Kansas City’s Old Pipes?

It is the unnerving reality that homeowners in Kansas City face, which lurks beneath their feet. The city sewer system, some pipes dating back to 1880, has become a freeway for an unwanted guest: rats. The clever critters waddle their way through the underground maze and come up in toilets and bathtubs, and floor drains all the way from Westport to Brookside. Things get worse in really rainy weather, when the combined sewer system in Kansas City overflows, forcing rats up into homes.

Now nearly 50% of the city’s sewer infrastructure is past its useful life, says the Kansas City Water Services Department. The moment you start to hear odd noises from your drains or see droppings around your plumbing, you should seek help from a licensed pest control professional, such as saelapest.com, to avoid the minor problem turning into a full-blown infestation.

The Hidden Route: KC’s Aging Sewer Infrastructure

Kansas City has 2,900-plus miles of sewer line, much of it installed back when most homes did not have indoor plumbing. After decades of freeze-thaw cycles and soil settlement, these aging clay and brick pipes have developed thousands of cracks, gaps, and connection failures. Disposable rats take advantage of these opportunities as they’d read an encyclopedia. Original terra cotta pipes in the city’s historic neighborhoods, especially those that fall within the urban core, are at the highest risk.

Kansas City Water processes over 3,000 sewer maintenance requests each year, with many of the inspections uncovering degraded pipe conditions that form ideal entry points. Rats have probably already charted a course from street sewer to your basement, the older your home’s plumbing connection.

From Drain to Disaster: How Rats Scale the Plumbing

Rats have a borderline superhuman physical ability. This is how they travel the path from the sewer to your house:

1. The Vertical Climb: Rats can swim through sewer lines, where they can tread water for up to three days. They have very flexible skeletons that enable them to squeeze through openings as small as a quarter. When they find a vertical drain pipe, they put their backs against one side and feet against the other and scale it slowly, like rock climbers in a chimney.
2. The Final Push: A rat can hold its breath for three minutes underwater, more than enough time to get through your P-trap, that U-shaped bit of pipe meant to hold water and block sewer gases. They just go through and come up inside your house.

Identifying a Sewer Rat Entry Point

1. Physical Signs Around Plumbing Fixtures

Areas around your drains should be checked for grease marks. Rats smear grease on their sides when they shuffle through narrow openings. Marks along baseboards and/or near bathroom or laundry room drains represent habitual travel. Try to find tiny raisin-sized brown droppings aggregated near the floor drain or base of the toilet, or underneath the sink.

2. Unexplained Sounds and Odors

Scurrying or scratching noises coming from drain pipes, especially throughout the night if rats are most active, mean you have an issue. Typically, an increase in sewer smells out of the blue frequently means rats have broken pipe seals and entered.

3. Water Level Changes

Is the water level in your toilet fluctuating without flushing? Water in your pipes can be displaced by rats moving through the system. Likewise, gurgle noise with drains away from the water running suggests that the air is being released due to activity in your plumbing system.

Specialized Kansas City Pipe Protection

Rats going through plumbing means that pest control will not be enough. The tailored Saela Pest Control solutions will be your ultimate solution. They put one-way valves in floor drains and toilet lines, where, if water is needed, these valves allow it to flow but keep the rats from entering the homes. They also spot dried-out P-traps, a frequent problem in Kansas City’s changing humidity, and suggest upkeep timelines for maintaining the water seals.