Compare blocked outside drain quotes
Standing water in the gully by the kitchen wall, or a manhole brimming in the garden? We match you with up to 3 verified local specialists to clear it — and to tell you whether it is even your drain.
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An outside drain that holds water is telling you something specific: the blockage is downstream of that point. A gully by the kitchen or bathroom wall usually blocks with fat, grease and grit and clears easily. A manhole or inspection chamber brimming over is more serious — it means the run leaving your property is obstructed, and that is where the question of ownership starts to matter.
Check which chamber is full before you book anything
Lift the covers in order, from the house outwards. The last chamber that is empty tells you the blockage sits between that one and the next. If the final chamber before the boundary is full, the problem may sit in a shared or public sewer — which is your water company’s responsibility, not yours.
Typical cost
Typical gully or chamber clearance; recurring blockages usually need a camera survey too
- Fixed quotes before anyone visits
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We match you with up to 3 verified local specialists — never more — and send their quotes by email, so you compare a shortlist instead of fielding calls from a dozen firms.
What’s involved
Blocked Outside Drains
Covers are lifted from the house outwards until an empty chamber is found. That isolates the blocked run, so nobody jets a hundred metres of pipe that was never the problem.
Silt, leaves, grease and grit are removed from the trap, then rods or a jetting hose clear the run itself. Gully grates and traps are cleaned out rather than just poked through.
Root ingress, a collapsed section, a displaced joint or bedded silt all look the same from the surface. A specialist tells you which, so a recurring blockage gets fixed rather than repeated.
FAQs
Blocked Outside Drains questions
Who is responsible for a blocked outside drain?
Drains that only serve your property, up to the boundary, are yours. Since 2011 most shared drains and lateral drains beyond the boundary transferred to the regional water company, so if the blockage is downstream of your last chamber it is usually their job and free to clear. A specialist can confirm which side of that line your blockage sits on.
Why does my outside drain keep blocking?
Repeat blockages in the same place almost always mean a fault in the pipe — root ingress, a cracked or displaced joint, or a section that has dropped and holds standing water. Clearing it works for a few weeks; a CCTV survey shows what needs repairing so it stops coming back.
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