Tag: blocked drain advice

Your Autumn Drainage Check: 5 Proactive Steps to Avoid a Winter Crisis

Posted on by Josh Paternoster

When leaves start to pile up and the air gets chilly, you should think about something people often forget: your home’s drainage check. Autumn is the perfect time to make sure everything is working well because ignoring it now could bring big problems once winter hits.

Follow these five straightforward steps for your drainage check and save yourself from expensive repairs or headaches during the colder months.

1.Keep Gutters and Downspouts Clear

Why Gutter Cleaning Matters

Gutters move rainwater away from houses keeping them safe from water damage. As fall continues, leaves and dirt often collect forming clogs. If this happens, water can spill over and harm roofs, walls, or even the foundation of the house.

Steps to Clean Gutters

  • Stay Safe: Always choose a strong ladder. Place it on flat solid ground. Keep at least three points of contact with the ladder while working.
  • Take Out Debris: Wear gloves and use your hands or a scoop to pull out leaves and other dirt from the gutters.
  • Rinse with Water: After removing debris, use a hose to wash away any dirt from the gutters and downspouts to make sure water moves.

How Often to Clean or Do Drainage Check

You should clean out your gutters at least twice in the fall. Do it once after the leaves start to drop and again right before winter arrives. This helps avoid clogs and keeps your drainage system working .

2. Check for Tree Roots Getting In

Why It’s a Problem

Tree roots often grow toward water and can make their way into sewer lines leading to major clogs. If ignored, this could cause serious pipe damage and expensive repairs.

Warning Signs of Root Problems

  • Slow Drains: Blockages from roots might cause sinks or toilets to drain more than usual.
  • Gurgling Sounds: Odd noises in the plumbing often mean air is stuck because of a clog.
  • Wet Spots in the Yard: Soggy areas over the sewer line can mean roots have caused a leak underground.

Getting a Professional Inspection

When you think roots might be causing problems, it’s smart to get an expert to inspect. Professionals often use tools like CCTV drain cameras to spot and fix root issues.

3. Check Your Sump Pump

Why Sump Pumps Matter

Houses with basements need sump pumps to stop flooding. Autumn brings more rain, so it is important to make sure your sump pump works .

Ways to Test Your Sump Pump

  • Add Water: Put water into the sump pit to check if the pump turns on and removes the water well.
  • Look at the Discharge Line: Make sure the discharge line is not blocked and that it moves water away from your house.
  • Check for Damage: Look at the pump to spot rust or any other damage.

Routine Check-Ups

Plan to maintain your sump pump before heavy rains arrive. This helps to avoid breakdowns when you need the pump the most.

4. Spot and Fix Pipe Leaks

Why Stopping Leaks Matters

Colder weather makes even small leaks turn into big problems. They can lead to serious water damage and make utility costs go up. To avoid this, checking your pipes is an important autumn task.

Steps to Find Leaks

  • Look for Signs: Search exposed pipes for rust, moisture, or signs of corrosion.
  • Check Fixtures: Watch faucets and showerheads for dripping. Replace old washers or gaskets if needed.
  • Close Gaps: Cover any visible cracks or open spaces in your pipes. Use insulation or sealant to do this.

Why Fixing Leaks Helps

Fixing leaks stops water damage in your house and helps your plumbing work better. This can cut down your costs over time.

5. Schedule a Professional Drainage Check

Why You Should Rely on Professionals

Debris, grease, and other gunk build up in drains over time causing clogs. Getting professional drain cleaning keeps your system in good shape and avoids problems down the line.

What Services to Expect

  • High-Pressure Water Jetting: Strong water jets remove tough clogs and get things flowing again.

CCTV Drain Surveys: Experts use these inspections to spot hidden problems in drains, like cracks or roots growing into the pipes.

How Often Should Drains Be Cleaned?

You should clean your drains with professional help at least ahead of winter. Drainage check can prevent unexpected issues and keep your drainage system working well.

Wrapping Up Drainage Check

When autumn arrives, it helps to look over your drainage system to avoid problems in the winter. You can keep your home safe from winter issues by doing five important things: clean the gutters, check for tree roots, test the sump pump, seal any leaks, and book a professional cleaning. Taking care of these things now will spare you headaches later.

Don’t put it off until a problem shows up. Get your drainage check today so it can handle what winter might bring.

Book your drainage inspection today: Call 0203 633 3897 or send us a message.

The Long Term Effects Of A Blocked Drain On Your Property

Posted on by Josh Paternoster

When we think of maintaining our homes, we probably think about keeping our roof intact, ensuring that the window fascias remain sound and checking our brickwork for pointing issues. We are less likely to keep an eye on our drainage systems. 

London weather can be unpredictable at the best of times, and often when it rains… it absolutely pours. Wet weather means that more drains can become blocked. While a drain blockage may seem like a minor annoyance, the long term effects can prove costly, and damage the integrity of your home.

Leaks

Your pipes need to remain crack-free. However, torrential rain, flooding and temperature differentials can cause high pressure to build-up and a drain blockage can be the result. Leaving this blockage to fester can make your pipework crack resulting in a leak to form within the home. It can be tricky to spot where the leak is coming from, meaning that mould and damp can develop on the walls of your living spaces. 

Damp can be a much more costly problem to fix than a blocked drain. You may need to repoint some of your brickwork, replaster, replace joists and insert a damp course. This is labour intensive and takes time resulting in your home feeling like a building site for a few weeks. By ensuring that you call a drainage engineer the moment your sense a problem in your pipes, you can save yourself money and stop your home from becoming too effected by the drain blockage.

If you live in a period property, your pipework will naturally be older, making them more susceptible to damage because of a blocked drain. Call a local London based engineer as soon as you think a drain blockage is developing to prevent your more vulnerable older pad from sustaining damage. An expert will carry out a full assessment of your drains before carrying out any necessary repairs.

Waste Resurgence

There’s nothing worse than noticing a foul odour within your home but being unable to find out where it is coming from. The number one cause of sewerage-like smells in your home is waste resurgence. This means that the waste that should be removed from your humble abode is becoming trapped within your pipework. A blocked drain will result in this waste not just blocking up but actually returning to your home. If you think about the worst blocked toilet that you’ve ever seen and consider that this could be in your own home, you will want to get a survey of your drains done immediately.

With a blocked drain in London, you need an expert that is reliable with a quick response time. If you have a drain blockage, drainage specialists will utilise CCTV technology to place a camera into your pipework and guide it along your drainage system to carry out a full survey and spot the points where blockages are present. They can also be utilised in a preventative sense to replace any pipe joints or segments that are vulnerable to blockages.

Structural Damage

Ignore a blocked drain at your peril because the chances of structural damage increase the longer you leave vulnerable pipework without a full survey being carried out. Leaks can cause damp, which not only causes fungal spores to permeate into your home, but they can also result in joist and brickwork damage. 

Joists and timbers within the structure of your home can become rotten, weaken and can cause subsidence to develop. This can have a massive detrimental impact on the saleability of your pad. While it may seem a little melodramatic, a blocked drain could result in your home becoming unmortgageable. To ensure that you don’t fall into a blocked drain trap, it pays to get your drains and pipes cleaned on an annual basis. When searching for an expert, go for a drainage firm in London that provides exceptional customer service, reliability and experience. 

How Will An Expert Unblock A Drain?

  • Drain rodding: Rodding a drain is a basic treatment that is cheap and effective if blockages are relatively new and there is little compacted material to remove. Steel rods are pushed through the pipework to remove a drain blockage and restore normal waste management.
  • Drain Jetting: For more compacted blockages, an expert will use a hose to fire a jet of powerful water to clear the blockage. This is more costly than rodding, but can cut the repair time of your pipes.
  • Tanker Jetting: If there is a lot of debris that has caused the pipework to fur up and solidify, a tanker jetting service is needed. Larger drains that are vulnerable to blockages will need more water firing down them at high pressure (up to fifty gallons a minute) to help pipes unblock effectively.
  • Electro-Mechanical Cleaning: If water is not a feasible option when trying to unblock your drain, an electro-mechanical cleaning option may be considered. Steel cables with large blades attached are forced down your pipes with the aim of cutting away the debris that is causing the blockage. This is an effective option when the debris is compacted or hard, or when there isn’t a mains water supply to power a jetting method.

Blocked Drain Prevention

To ensure that you keep your pipework in excellent condition, it pays to have an annual checkup of your drains in London. This is especially important for those properties that are older or haven’t been inhabited for a little while. You have a service for your boiler each year, so why not do the same with your drains? 

The main culprits for drain blockages are hair and excess tissue buildup. Tree roots can also break through pipework and invade your drainage spaces causing a blockage. While it can be difficult to mitigate the risk of a drain blockage, you can take care of your pipework by getting a team of experts in to assess and survey your drains to keep them in tip-top condition.

At Quick Clear Drainage, our professional engineers are on hand 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week. Call us or message us today for free advice!