Blocked Drains & Blockages
Clearing what you can, not making it worse, and knowing whose drain it legally is.
Work out how far down the blocked drain is
One slow fixture means the trap or the branch serving it, a plunger job. Several fixtures slow at once means the problem is downstream of all of them, in the stack or the underground run, and no amount of plunging one sink will help. If the toilet bubbles when the bath drains, the blockage is already in the main run. That single observation decides whether this is ten minutes or a drainage callout.
Lift the inspection chamber before you spend money
The chamber cover in the garden or the path tells you almost everything. Empty and flowing means the blockage is between the house and that chamber. Full of standing water means it is downstream, further towards the sewer, and if it is downstream of your boundary, since 2011 it is very likely the water company's responsibility and their problem to fix free of charge.
What actually causes them
Fat is the overwhelming cause in kitchens: poured warm, it cools and lines the pipe until the bore closes. Wipes are the cause in toilets, including the ones sold as flushable, which do not break down. Roots are the cause underground, finding the joints in Victorian salt-glazed clay. And silt is the cause in long shallow runs that never get enough flow to scour themselves.
What makes it worse
Caustic drain cleaner poured into a fat-lined underground run cools, sets below the blockage, and adds to it, while making the pipework hazardous for whoever opens it next. Repeated forceful plunging against a solid obstruction can displace an already-cracked joint. And pouring boiling water down a plastic waste run can deform it. All three are common, all three are avoidable.
Whose drain is it legally?
Since October 2011, in England and Wales, drains shared with another property and the lateral drain beyond your boundary transferred to the water and sewerage company. What remains yours is the pipework within your own boundary serving only your own property. This matters because people routinely pay for work that was never theirs to pay for, and a camera survey settles it in writing.
Plunger, rods, enzyme cleaners, and the two "fixes" that turn a blockage into an excavation.
Dry traps, failed seals, broken vents, finding the source instead of masking it.
Supply up, waste down: understanding the two systems makes every plumbing decision easier.
Lift the cover before you buy anything. Which chamber is full decides both the fix and whose bill it is.
How do I unblock a drain myself?
Why does my drain keep blocking?
How much does it cost to unblock a drain?
Is a blocked drain an emergency?
Water where it
shouldn't be? Call.
A person answers, not a menu. You'll have an arrival time and a price range before you hang up.
020 3674 8514Or WhatsApp 07865 292684, photos help us bring the right parts
