Drainage
Blocked Sinks & Drains
Kitchen sinks, basins, baths and showers that empty slowly or not at all.
We confirm the price with you before any work starts.
- No call-out fee
- Qualified professionals
- 12-month workmanship guarantee
- Emergency call-outs
Sinks block gradually. Fat and grease poured down as a liquid cool within a few feet of the plughole and set on the pipe wall, and every bit of food and soap that follows catches on what is already there. The bore narrows over months until one ordinary washing-up is enough to close it.
Baths, showers and basins block for a different reason — hair bound together with soap scum, almost always in the trap directly below the waste.
Most of these are cleared at the fitting. Where more than one is affected at once, the blockage is not at any of them but in the pipe they all run into, which is a different job.
The price you see is based on what you tell us. If our engineer finds that more work or materials are needed, they will explain the cost and get your agreement before carrying on — nothing is added without you agreeing to it first.
Do you need this?
You might need this if
- Water standing in the sink long after the tap is off
- A kitchen sink that has to be bailed out before you can use it
- A bath or shower tray that fills around your feet
- Gurgling from the plughole as it finally drains
- A stale or sour smell coming up from the waste
- Both sides of a double sink filling up together
- More than one fitting slowing down at the same time
On the day
What the work involves
Roughly what to expect. The exact steps vary with the job.
- Step 1:The engineer checks whether other fittings are affected, which tells them where the blockage is
- Step 2:The trap below the fitting is opened and cleared where the blockage is close by
- Step 3:Waste pipes are cleared mechanically with an auger or hand-fed cable
- Step 4:Fat and grease set hard on the pipe wall are cut out with high-pressure water jetting
- Step 5:Blockages further along are rodded or jetted from the nearest access point
- Step 6:The fitting is run and watched to confirm it drains at full flow
How it works
How booking works
You see what the job costs before giving us any personal details.
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Step 1: Tell us what you need
Pick your service and answer a few plain-English questions about the job.
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Step 2: See your price
We show you the price before you give us any personal details.
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Step 3: Choose your slot
Pick an arrival window that suits you from our genuine availability.
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Step 4: Pay your deposit
Secure your appointment with a £10 deposit, taken off your final bill.
Questions
Common questions
Why does my kitchen sink block so much more often than anything else?
Because of what goes down it. Fat, oil and grease leave the pan as a liquid and set as a solid a short way along a cold pipe, then everything else sticks to the layer they leave. It builds up slowly and invisibly until the pipe is too narrow to cope, which is why a sink that has been fine for years blocks apparently overnight.
What should I not put down the sink?
Cooking fat, oil and meat juices are the main ones — let them set in the pan and scrape them into the bin instead. Coffee grounds, rice, pasta and flour all swell or bind. Anything fibrous, like onion skins and potato peel, catches on whatever is already in there.
Will boiling water and washing-up liquid clear it?
Sometimes, for a young blockage that is mostly grease. It is worth trying before you call. It will do nothing at all for hair in a shower trap or for a pipe that has silted up over years, and it will not touch a blockage further along the system.
Should I use a chemical drain unblocker?
We would not recommend it. Caustic products frequently fail to clear the blockage and then sit in the standing water above it, which is a hazard for whoever opens the pipe next. If you have already used one, say so when you call.
My bath and my basin have both stopped draining. Is that two problems?
Almost certainly one. Two fittings blocking at the same moment is unlikely, so the blockage is in the pipe they both empty into rather than at either of them. It is worth checking the rest of the house too — the more fittings affected, the further down the system the blockage sits.
Can you clear a shower that drains slowly rather than not at all?
Yes, and it is a better time to deal with it. A slow shower is a trap that is partly full of hair and soap. Clearing it then is a straightforward job, and it saves the point a few weeks later where it stops entirely.
What if the blockage is not in the house at all?
Then it is a drainage job outside rather than a waste-pipe job inside, and the way to tell is to lift the manhole cover nearest the house. A chamber standing full means the blockage is beyond it. That is covered on our blocked manholes and external drains page.
How soon can someone come out?
Give us a call rather than booking online if it will not wait.