Plomberie 5 Etoiles Montreal
Bathtub and shower drain unclogging — stop backups, odours and slow drains with same-day service when you need it.
4.8 / 5 Google
Urgence 24/7
Montreal et region
+110 avis verifies
A bathtub that won't drain or a shower filling up at your feet isn't just annoying — it usually means the blockage is already well established inside the pipe. Plomberie 5 Étoiles has been clearing clogged bathtub and shower drains across Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, and the South Shore for over 15 years. We show up the same day, we use professional-grade equipment, and we don't leave until the water runs freely again.
Licensed by RBQ. Recommended by CAA-Québec. Available 24/7 for emergencies.
Most clogged drains don't happen overnight. They build slowly, and by the time you notice a problem, the blockage is usually significant enough that it won't clear on its own. Watch for these signs:
If you're seeing any of these, it's time to call a professional. Bathtub and shower drains don't self-clear, and chemical drain cleaners are a temporary fix at best — and a pipe-damaging one at worst.
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Understanding what's blocking your drain helps explain why a professional cleaning is more effective than anything you can buy at the hardware store.
Hair is the single most common cause of shower and bathtub drain clogs in Montreal. It doesn't dissolve, and it has a tendency to catch on any roughness inside the pipe — the inside of the P-trap, a fitting edge, a corroded pipe wall. Over weeks and months, it binds with soap residue and forms a dense, matted plug. A standard 6mm drain snake can grab and pull out this plug cleanly in a single pass if the blockage is accessible. For deeper or more compacted buildups, a larger cable or high-pressure water jetting is more effective.
Bar soap leaves behind a waxy residue as it breaks down. Shampoos, conditioners, and body washes contain oils and silicones that coat the inside of drain pipes and build up over time. This doesn't create a hard blockage the way hair does, but it narrows the pipe consistently and makes it much easier for hair and debris to catch and accumulate. In Montreal bathrooms with moderate-to-hard water, the mineral deposits in the water combine with soap residue to form a harder, more adherent scale.
Montreal's water supply carries dissolved calcium and magnesium — enough that long-term scale buildup is common on faucets, shower fixtures, and inside drain pipes. When this scale coats the inside walls of a drain pipe, it both narrows the passage and creates a rough, porous surface that catches everything passing through. High-pressure drain cleaning (hydro-jetting) is the most effective tool for scale buildup — a cable snake can clear the immediate blockage but won't remove the coating left on the pipe walls.
A large percentage of homes and multi-unit buildings in Montreal built before the mid-1970s still have original cast iron drain pipes. Unlike modern PVC or ABS drains, cast iron corrodes from the inside out over decades. The rough, pitted interior surface that results is highly effective at trapping hair and debris. Recurring clogs in older Montreal homes — duplexes in Rosemont, triplexes on the Plateau, houses in NDG — are frequently a cast iron problem, not just a surface buildup issue. A [drain camera inspection]/video-camera-inspection) is the best way to assess the pipe's condition if clogs keep coming back.
The overflow plate on your bathtub — the plate on the front wall of the tub just below the faucet — connects to a linkage rod that runs through the overflow tube to the drain stopper. Hair and debris accumulate around this rod as well as at the drain strainer. Many bathtub clogs are actually split between the drain opening and the overflow assembly, which is why snaking the visible drain sometimes only partially clears the problem.
Customer Reviews
Vertigo Stardust
6 years ago
Well done guys, they've earned their 5 stars My kitchen sink wasn't flushing despite the underneath pipes being clean. My basement toilet was out of order. I called them at 9:30am, the man clearly explained the fees wit…
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Lison Côté
5 months ago
Fast, friendly, and professional service. Wow. Thank you.
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Laurence Corbeil
7 months ago
The service was good and fast, with relevant advice.
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Yann Laliberte
5 months ago
Courteous, fast, and professional. Thank you.
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Chantal Labelle
1 year ago
Very good service, fast, efficient, and courteous. I highly recommend them. Thank you :)
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Claude Massy
2 years ago
Great camera inspection, even earlier than scheduled. Very friendly and gave clear explanations of the work. I truly recommend them. My plumber was Zoiubir. Thanks to Alex.
Read on GoogleWe don't use a one-size-fits-all approach. The method depends on what's blocking the drain, how deep it is, and what the pipe is made of.
A motorized or hand-operated drain cable is the standard tool for most hair and debris clogs. We feed the cable down through the drain opening, through the P-trap, and into the horizontal drain arm until it contacts the blockage. The rotating head breaks up and grabs the material so it can be pulled out or pushed through. For most shower drains, this clears the blockage in a single visit.
For stubborn or recurring clogs, scale-coated pipes, or drains that keep blocking within weeks of being snaked, high-pressure water jetting is significantly more effective. A specialized nozzle is inserted into the drain pipe and water is forced through at high pressure — cutting through grease, soap scum, and scale, and flushing the debris completely out of the line. This is the closest thing to restoring a pipe to its original internal diameter.
For bathtubs where the clog involves the overflow assembly or a failed P-trap, we disassemble the relevant components, clean them, and reassemble. This is more involved than a simple snake but addresses the full cause of the blockage rather than just the most visible part.
If your drain is clogging repeatedly despite regular cleaning, we recommend a camera inspection to see what's actually happening inside the pipe. Recurring clogs in older homes often point to corroded cast iron, a partially collapsed pipe, or a bellied drain section where water pools and sediment accumulates. Knowing what's inside the pipe before deciding on a solution saves money and prevents repeat service calls.
This is worth saying plainly: store-bought drain openers (sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid formulas, and enzyme-based products) are not a substitute for professional drain cleaning.
Sodium hydroxide ("lye") products can dissolve organic matter — hair and grease — but only when they remain in contact with the blockage long enough. If the drain is slow but not completely blocked, the liquid often passes by the clog without adequate contact time. The chemical then sits in the trap and horizontal run, in contact with your pipes, often for hours.
In cast iron pipes, repeated chemical use accelerates the internal corrosion that's already occurring, speeding up the pipe degradation. In older ABS plastic fittings, aggressive chemicals can soften and crack the plastic over time.
None of these products remove scale. If calcium buildup is contributing to your clog, chemical cleaners won't touch it.
The practical result: many homeowners treat a slow drain with chemicals, it appears to clear temporarily, and within a few weeks it's slow again — because the underlying accumulation was only partially dissolved, and the pipe walls still carry the coating that caused the clog in the first place.
A few things come up frequently in Montreal drain work that aren't as common elsewhere:
Cast iron drain systems in pre-1975 buildings. As mentioned above, Montreal's older housing stock — duplexes, triplexes, row houses — was almost universally plumbed with cast iron. These pipes have a finite lifespan, and most in the city are either at or past it. Recurring clogs in an older home aren't always a cleaning problem; sometimes they're a pipe condition problem. We'll tell you honestly which situation you're in.
Winter and freeze-thaw cycles. Cold weather affects bathroom drain performance in ways that aren't obvious. When soap residue and grease partially solidify in a slower drain section during cold months, the clog can appear worse in winter and seem to improve when temperatures rise. This pattern often indicates a grease or soap buildup issue in a section of pipe that sees lower water temperatures — usually a horizontal drain run in an exterior wall or crawlspace.
High-density buildings and shared drain stacks. Condos and apartment buildings in Montreal share vertical drain stacks. A clog in a tub on the 5th floor can sometimes be related to a partial blockage further down in the shared stack. If your clog is recurring and your building neighbours have had similar issues, the problem may be in the common drain, not your unit — which changes what's needed to fix it.
Professional cleaning is the most effective intervention, but a few habits can extend the time between service calls significantly:
Use a drain hair catcher. A simple silicone or stainless mesh cover placed over or inside the drain opening catches hair before it enters the pipe. Empty it every few days. This single change reduces shower drain service calls dramatically.
Run hot water after every shower or bath. Flushing the drain with the hottest water your tap produces for 30–60 seconds after using the shower helps carry soap residue further down the line before it can adhere to the pipe walls.
Remove and clean the drain cover monthly. Unscrew or lift out the drain strainer and clean it. Hair and buildup accumulate right at this point and are easy to remove before they become a deeper clog.
For bathtubs: clean the overflow plate assembly annually. Pull the overflow plate cover and clean the linkage rod and the inside of the overflow tube — this is a common collection point for hair and debris that most homeowners never address.
Avoid pouring grease or heavy product residue down the drain. Hair treatments, thick conditioners, and similar products contribute more to pipe coating than regular shampoo. Rinsing with extra hot water after using heavy products helps.
Don't wait for a full blockage. If your drain is draining noticeably more slowly than it used to, that's the ideal time to have it cleaned — before it becomes a backup, before it needs emergency service, and before the blockage has compacted and hardened.
A fully blocked bathtub or shower that's backing up into the bathroom or causing water to overflow isn't something that can wait until morning. We provide emergency drain service across Montreal and surrounding areas around the clock — including weekends and holidays.
For emergency calls, call 514-447-3700 directly. Don't submit a web form in an emergency — call the number and our dispatcher will connect you with an available plumber.
For related drain and flood emergencies, see also our emergency drain sewer backup service and flooded basement response.
15+ years working in Montreal homes. We've cleaned drains in every type of property the city has to offer — cast iron triplexes, new condos, houses in Laval, commercial properties on the South Shore. We know what we're dealing with before we open the drain cover.
Professional equipment, not store-bought tools. We use commercial-grade motorized drain cables, hydro-jetting equipment, and drain inspection cameras. The difference in results compared to a hand snake from the hardware store is significant.
CAA-Québec recommended for over 10 years. That endorsement reflects consistent service quality across hundreds of jobs per year.
4.8 stars on Google, 150+ verified reviews. We don't ask customers to leave reviews — they leave them because the job was done right.
Honest diagnosis. If your drain needs more than cleaning — if there's a camera inspection warranted, or a pipe condition issue — we'll tell you that before we start, not after.
Licensed and insured. RBQ license # 5663-4538-01. CMMTQ member.
Plomberie 5 Étoiles is a member of the Corporation des maîtres mécaniciens en tuyauterie du Québec
Ask The Expert
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Yes. We provide installation and replacement services for bathtubs and showers. Whether you are renovating your bathroom or replacing an old unit, we ensure all plumbing connections are properly installed and leak-free.
Yes. We can repair most leaks related to bathtubs and showers, including issues with faucets, drains, and visible plumbing connections. Prompt repairs help prevent water damage and mold growth.
Common signs include water leaks, slow drainage, low water pressure, inconsistent temperature, or visible damage such as cracks or worn fixtures. These issues should be addressed quickly to avoid further damage.
Yes. We install and replace shower faucets, mixing valves, and other plumbing components to ensure proper water flow and temperature control.
Yes. We can clear blockages in bathtub and shower drains using professional equipment to restore proper drainage and prevent recurring clogs.
We handle the plumbing portion of bathroom renovations, including installing fixtures and modifying water lines. For full renovations involving walls, tiles, or structural work, we recommend working with a general contractor.
Installation time varies depending on the complexity of the project. Simple replacements may take a few hours, while more involved installations or modifications can take longer.
Yes. We provide bathtub and shower plumbing services in Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, Brossard, Terrebonne, Blainville and throughout the greater Montreal area. Call 514-447-3700 to schedule an appointment.
