Drain Unblocking / Clearance
Drain Unblocking Services
Is advancing your plunger and drain rod collection your latest least favourite hobby? Don’t waste your money on an endless pursuit with no results. Enlist the help of professional drain unblocking services to enjoy a blockage-free kitchen sink or shower drain.
Drain blockage is an unavoidable and invisible evil that accompanies all domestic and commercial drains. It’s a nightmare of rotten odours and dirty water in your home. Sadly, there’s no running from it. It will follow you everywhere on your property.
How do you know that you need drain unblocking?
Drain blockage is sneaky as it creeps up on you slowly and unexpectedly. To win one over drain blockage, you must have the foresight to look out for the early signs of a blocked drain.
It will save you a whole lot of nasties and future repair costs. Some of the signs you can look out for to protect yourself from drain-blocking are:
- Musty and unpleasant odours
- Low pressure of water
- Water leakage
- Slow water drainage in the sink, bath, shower, or toilet
- Flooding
What’s the worst that could happen?
Drain blockage is a common enough problem in the UK. But if not dealt with promptly, it can result in:
Unhygienic and unhealthy conditions
Domestic Residences—Blocked drains cause unsanitary messes that involve wastewater leaking into your clean home. The dirty water has a strong rotten smell and has bacteria and germs. It can also bring with it cockroaches and bugs.
You don’t want to deal with a pest infestation, along with drain unblocking. The ensuing germs can infect perishable items and clean surfaces. It causes health hazards and diseases, especially in young children.
Commercial Businesses—The hygiene standard for commercial properties is not optional. Sewerage water that boils out into commercial properties is much more hazardous than domestic drainpipes.
Due to the excessive use of commercial bathrooms and kitchens, their drains are more prone to blockage. The sanitisation issues from the blocked drains will get you slapped with lawsuits and fines from government officials.
If you delay the drain unblocking, the damage to your business assets, goodwill and reputation will be substantial.
Furthermore, you can’t survive in the highly competitive business communities of cities like London and Manchester by scrimping on drain maintenance.
Foul smell
Domestic—A blocked drain always leaves an unpleasant, damp smell that stays inside, no matter how much you air out the inside of your home. It takes the pleasure out of a leisurely soak in the tub or a relaxing shower after a long day.
Sitting at your kitchen table with your breakfast tea ruins your morning. The pungent smell is only the beginning of a full-fledged drain blockage.
Commercial—Don’t you love the smell of blueberry pie when you enter your favourite bakery? But what if it is accompanied by a rotten after smell? You would probably never go there again.
Nobody wants their hotel stay for business trips or vacations to smell bad. The first thing you do when you step inside your hotel room …take a deep breath to enjoy the fresh, clean, air freshener scented air.
A nasty mouldy smell will make your customers run as fast as possible without looking back. The damage to a business’s reputation is unrepairable, as the stench from blocked drains leaves a negative first impression.
Damage to fixtures and fitting
Domestic—The continuous leakage of water from the drainpipes on your floors and tiles leads to damage. It can get inside walls, ruining the paint and texture.
The leakage inside cupboards can ruin the wood and attract woodworms. The dampness caused by the water underneath the floors can destroy your tiles, wooden boards, and carpets.
Furthermore, the constant dampness leads to mould and mildew, especially in basements and less frequently used places. The items in your storage become vulnerable to clothe worms and moths.
Commercial— The overall damage to commercial businesses is even worse. A business has a large amount of stock in storage for their daily use. Any sign of mould and mildew can cost the business owners millions of pounds.
Not to forget, the expensive furniture and fixtures in hotels and restaurants can take a chunk out of your running capital and lead to heavy losses.
Accumulation of waste in the drainpipes
Domestic—Things like food scraps, grease, hair, toilet papers, mineral buildup, and more cause severe blockages in the drainpipe and lead to a complete standstill of waste in the drain. There is nowhere for the waste to go but inside your homes and outside your gutter manholes.
It is disgusting to deal with the fallout from the waste blockage in the drainpipes as all the garbage, debris, sewerage, and wastewater mixes into a horrible concoction.
As pipes underneath are interconnected, the dirty water mixes with the clean water to give you even more trouble. The standing of waste in the drainpipes is a serious problem, and the only way out is a thorough professional cleaning from drain unblocking specialists.
Commercial—For commercial properties, standing waste in the drain is a potential disaster. As commercial properties are larger, the drainage system is connected for efficient handling of waste. A blockage anywhere in the drainage system spreads and affects the whole business operation.
The fallout is expensive, and business losses can be massive. As mentioned before, the quantity of waste in businesses is sizeable. An efficient and well-maintained drainage system is essential to the smooth running of a commercial property.
Structural damage
Domestic—The drains exist underneath your house for a reason. They are the hidden means of transporting your waste outside into the great wide beyond of the sewerage system. When that dirty water starts backing up into your home, it can leak from internal the drains if your manhole covers are not correctly sealed.
If there is structural damage, waste can seep into basement walls and under floors to dig deep into the foundation of your home. The moisture weakens the base and eventually causes structural damage to your property.
Don’t ignore the warning signs of dampness in the less visible areas of your home. It will spread if not treated, and the ensuing damage will wreak havoc on the foundation of your house.
Commercial—The same applies to commercial properties, but on a far larger scale. The water leakage in domestic residences is easy to catch and fix, but the sheer size and operations of a business make it difficult to get to the root of the problem if not taken care of in the early stages.
A business owner should always get professional drain unblocking services to keep his business safe and functional.
Causes of Drain Blockage
Common causes of a drain blockage are:
- Food waste-food scraps, grease, and lard
- Toilet waste-hair, toilet paper, creams, soaps, sanitary, and cleaning products
- Litter and bulky objects-foreign objects such as keys, toys, toothbrushes, razors, utensils, small cloths, pampers, and syringes
- Debris and slit from weather changes-typical English weather brings sudden thunderstorms. That washes down debris, plants, and slit into drains.
- Mineral buildup-in drainpipes with usage and time
- Growth of tree roots and plants-tree roots and plants grow and extend deep underground in search of water. They break through drainpipes causing cracks and damage.
Emergency Drain Unblocking Methods you can try Yourself
Or you can try the following methods and fixes that tell you how to unblock a drain yourself:
- Boiling Water-Pouring hot water down your blocked pipes is a go-to remedy for minor drain blockages. Though, it does not work for larger blocks like large and bulky foreign objects.
- Baking Soda, Vinegar, and Salt– Another popular fix is mixing baking soda and vinegar or baking soda and water to pour down your sinks and drains. Leaving this mixture to work for half an hour will flush down the waste from your drainpipe.
This natural remedy does not work for more stubborn build-ups.
- Drain unblocking rods-A handy tool for outside drain unblocking, these long rods can go deep inside your drain to loosen the blockage and dislodge it.
- Plungers-Plungers are used by filling the blocked toilet or sink with water. Thrust the plunger in quick, forceful up and down movements to loosen the blockage.
- Wires and Cables-You can insert a long metal wire such as a coat hanger inside your drain to pull out the clumps of waste in your drainpipe. You can clean it out or push it further down to flush away with the water, thereby unblocking your drain.
- Over-the-counter Drain Unblocking Chemicals-There are many chemical drain opening solutions available in the market. They dissolve the waste in your pipes to clear them for usage. But be careful as too many chemicals can corrode and rust your pipes, causing fissures and breaks.
If nothing works, bring in the drain unblocking specialists!
So, what’s the way out?
It all depends on the magnitude and recurrence of your drain blockage. Rather than dealing with the stress of stubborn blockages yourself, look up ‘drain unblocking services near me’ to hire the best people for the job.
They have the skills and the experience to assess the situation and put forward the best solutions for how to unblock a drain. Your drain unblocking cost depends on how quickly you call the drain cleaners for your problem.
The drain unblocking experts have specialised equipment and tools to deal with all kinds of blockage. They use:
Hydro Jets
Hydro jets spray bursts of water in the blocked drain with the help of a nozzle. The nozzle is attached to a hose and is connected to a water pressure machine. It is the most effective way of drain unblocking as the high-pressure blast of water can clear the majority of blockages.
It can even break through tree roots and growth.
Before using a hydro jet, the engineers will use a drain camera to locate the blockage. They also assess the condition of your pipes to see if they can withstand the blast of water. As the pressure of water from a hydro jetting unit can damage old or cracked pipes, always hire a drain cleaning specialist.
A hydro jet may rack up your drain unblocking cost, but it is the most effective way of clearing a blockage.
Drain Snakes
A drain snake is a flexible rod that comes with a blade and a crank attached at either end. It is inserted into a blocked drain to clear blockages.
CCTV Drain Survey
For recurring and ongoing drain obstructions, drain engineers recommend a CCTV drain survey. The survey will identify the origin of the problem so that the drain cleaners can recommend the applicable drain unblocking solution and repairs.
A report is produced with still capture images giving you an insight into the condition of your drains.
Protect what’s yours…
A reliable drain unblocking company will always inspect and investigate the cause of the leakage, flooding, smell, or noises coming from your pipes.
They are qualified to use techniques that do not damage your drainpipes. A drain unblocking company will always carry out a drain inspection before applying high water pressure or using a drain snake or drain opener.
Moreover, they will inform you where pipe repairs and replacements are needed to plan to prevent future issues.
Once you hire a professional for drain unblocking, your maintenance costs go down and your property value appreciates. Moreover, you save money on cleaning and protective equipment.
Keep yourself safe from nasty surprises that accompany a blocked drain. The internet can surely tell you how to unblock a toilet drain or how to unblock a drain outside, but it’s mostly a temporary fix. Be proactive at the first sign of drain blockage with DIY remedies…BUT realise the point where you need professional help.
Be smart and call the drain unblocking specialists to avoid further damage to your residential and commercial drainpipes. Follow with routine checkup and maintenance visits.
