Drainage and Blocked Drain Services

Each of our blocked drain services has its own page with the full detail:

• Drain unblocking and cleaning: For blocked sinks, toilets, baths, showers, gullies and outside drains. We clear the blockage, check that the pipe runs freely and tell you what caused it.
• Emergency drainage services: When sewage is backing up into the house, a manhole is overflowing or the drains have stopped completely. That page explains what to do straight away, and who to call if the problem is in the public sewer.
• Drain jetting: High-pressure water that scours grease, scale, silt and fine roots from the inside of the pipe. It clears stubborn blockages and is used as planned maintenance for drains that keep blocking, including commercial kitchen drains.
• CCTV drain surveys: A camera inspection of the inside of the drains, with a written report and footage. A survey finds the cause of repeat blockages, checks a drain before you buy or build, and gives insurers the evidence they ask for.
• Drain repairs and lining: Cracked, leaking, root-damaged or displaced pipes are repaired, often from the inside with a resin liner, so there is no need to dig up the garden or driveway.
• Drain installation and replacement: New drains, inspection chambers and soakaways for extensions and new builds, and replacement of drains that have collapsed or are beyond repair.

If a drain blocks more than once, we usually recommend looking inside it before paying for a repair. Clearing a blockage treats the symptom; finding out why it formed is what stops it coming back.

The early signs are easy to miss:

• Slow draining: Sinks, baths and showers take longer and longer to empty.
• Gurgling: Plugholes or the toilet gurgle when water drains elsewhere in the house, as air is pulled through the traps.
• A rising toilet bowl: The water rises higher than normal when you flush, then slowly drops.
• Smells: A sewage smell indoors, or around outside gullies and manhole covers.
• Water where it should not be: An outside gully overflowing, or waste water standing in an inspection chamber when you lift the cover.
• More than one fitting affected: If the toilet, bath and sink are all slow at once, the blockage is usually in the main drain, not a single waste pipe.

A damaged drain can also show itself as damp patches low down on walls, sunken paving or a dip in the lawn along the drain line, or rats in the garden.

Most blockages come from what goes down the drain, and some from the pipe itself:

• Fat, oil and grease from cooking, which sets inside the pipe and traps everything else.
• Wet wipes, sanitary products, nappies and cotton buds, which do not break down like toilet paper.
• Hair and soap in bathroom wastes.
• Leaves, silt and grit washed into outside gullies.
• Roots from trees and shrubs, which find their way in through cracks and joints.
• Damaged pipes: Cracks, displaced joints, sagging sections or collapses that catch waste as it passes.

Our guide to unblocking and cleaning drains explains how each type of blockage is cleared, what you can safely try yourself, and how to prevent it.

In England, it depends on where the pipe is and how many properties it serves. Since 1 October 2011, shared drains and lateral drains that connect to the public sewer have been the responsibility of the local sewerage company. In London, that is usually Thames Water.

If you are not sure, send us a photo or short video of the problem, or of the inside of the inspection chamber, and we will tell you where to start.

It depends on the service, the cause, how easy the drain is to reach, how deep it runs, and whether a survey or repair is needed afterwards. For a defined job, such as clearing a blockage at an accessible chamber or lining a measured length of pipe, we can usually give a fixed price. For repairs and new drains, you receive a written quote once the drain has been inspected.

Extensions, new builds and basement conversions often sit over or next to existing drains, or need new ones. Because we are builders as well, we plan the drainage with the building work rather than as an afterthought. See our house extensions, new builds and basement conversions pages, and our drain installation and replacement service.