How Heavy Rain Affects Your Drains
Across England, drains serving homes and businesses are currently under much greater strain than usual due to heavy rain and flooding. When Storm Henk arrived in early January, it unleashed torrential downpours on vast swathes of the country, becoming the eighth major storm in just three months, as BBC News reports. At the time of […]
Do You Need a Homebuyer’s Drain Survey?
When you’re buying a new home, there are numerous important tasks you need to cross off your to-do list, from exchanging contracts to finding a reliable removal company. With so much else to think about, you could well be tempted to adopt an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach to the property’s drainage system […]
Winter Drain Care Advice
The coldest months – December, January and February – can be a testing time for your property, including your drainage system. This is especially true if you own a period property with ageing drains or your drains were laid in shallow trenches (the minimum depth for a drain is 600mm). However, it must be said […]
Choosing the Best Drainage Company for Your Home or Business
The UK drainage industry encompasses hundreds of companies. There’s even a major trade event, the National Drainage Show, which takes place annually in November and showcases drainage specialists’ skills. Many drainage specialists’ day-to-day work involves helping homes and businesses to keep their wastewater flowing freely by providing drain unblocking, CCTV drain surveys and other vital […]
Fatbergs – A Growing Problem
If someone told you that there are enormous, subterranean monsters called fatbergs growing in UK sewers and wreaking havoc on the country’s wastewater management infrastructure, not to mention the environment, you might think they’d been watching too much Doctor Who. However, water and sewerage companies know all too well that monstrous fatbergs really do lurk […]
Effective Alternatives to Harsh Chemical Drain Cleaners
Perhaps you’ve noticed signs of blocked drains, such as foul smells or basins emptying slowly. Or perhaps you just want to perform some drain maintenance by cleaning out your drainage system to stop cooking fat or other nasties from creating obstructions in the first place. In these sorts of situations, you may be tempted to […]
Why Some Homes Have Septic Tanks
Whereas most homes’ drains are connected to sewers (which carry wastewater to treatment plants such as the Avonmouth water recycling centre in Bristol), some lead to nearby septic tanks instead. These private, underground tanks don’t sound very appealing – ‘septic’ means they contain microorganisms such as bacteria – but they’re hugely important to many homeowners. […]
The Difference between Drains and Sewers
When you run a tap, turn on the washing machine or flush the toilet, you probably don’t give a great deal of thought to where the wastewater goes or what ultimately happens to it. Drains and sewers are out of sight and usually out of mind. They’re part of a vital subterranean pipe network serving […]
CCTV Drain Surveys – What Do They Involve?
You may be surprised to learn that CCTV (which stands for Closed-Circuit Television) plays a vital role in drain surveys. CCTV cameras are most commonly associated with above-ground surveillance systems; they help to ensure car parks, shopping centres, banks, etc. are safe and secure. But they’re also well suited to examining underground pipe networks that […]
Removing Invasive Roots from Drains
Many drain obstructions occur after people pour or flush away things drainage systems aren’t designed to carry to the sewers, such as cooking oil or nappy liners. But did you know that trees and hedges can also have a detrimental effect on your drains if their roots manage to penetrate the pipework? In fact, the […]
