A blocked drain rarely clears on its own. Water that has nowhere to go will find the lowest opening, which is often a downstairs toilet, a shower tray or an outside gully. Unblocking one is an everyday job for a drainage firm, but a few minutes of care before anyone arrives can stop the mess spreading.

Stop putting water down it. Do not keep flushing the toilet, running the washing machine or filling the sink. Each extra load sits on top of the blockage. If the pipe is already full, that water can come back up through the lowest trap in the house.

Shop-bought drain unblocker rarely shifts a proper blockage in the underground run. On a pipe that is already cracked, scaled or lined with fat, caustic products can make the later repair harder. If a plunger has not moved a sink or bath within a few minutes, it is usually a job for rods or high-pressure jetting rather than another bottle from the cupboard.

Check whose drain it is before you pay anyone. A drain inside your boundary that serves only your home is normally yours to fix. A shared sewer, or a drain outside your boundary, is normally the water company’s. That split can differ by nation and by how the pipes were laid, so ring your water company if you are not sure. They can tell you where their responsibility starts. If it is theirs, you should not be paying a private firm to clear a public sewer.

Treat it as urgent if

Sewage or waste water is coming back up into the house.
The only toilet will not flush at all.
Waste water is surfacing in the garden or around a manhole cover.

If that is happening, fill in the quote form on this page and, if nobody has rung you within the hour, start ringing round the drainage firms near you rather than waiting.

It can usually wait for a booked visit if

A sink, bath or shower is draining slowly. That is often a sign the pipe is narrowing.
A plughole gurgles when another tap runs.
There is a drain smell outside that comes and goes.
You are buying a house and have been asked for a CCTV drain survey, or there are mature trees near the drain run.

Booked visits usually cost less than emergency callouts. Catch a slow drain now and it never joins the urgent list above.

When you want someone to look at it, use the form at the bottom of this page. You describe the job once. Firms that cover your postcode can then come back with a price for the unblocking, or whatever else the job turns out to need.

Drainage jobs you can get quotes for

Most people arrive here with water going nowhere, a smell, or a survey a solicitor has asked for. You do not have to know the trade name of the job. Describe what you can see and where it is. Whoever visits will confirm whether it is a simple blockage, a CCTV drain survey, a repair, or something else.

Get quotes

Your enquiry goes to firms that cover your postcode area, and they price it up directly.

Blocked drains

Blocked drains are the job most households search for first. Typical signs are a toilet that sits high after a flush, a shower that pools around your feet, a kitchen sink that fills with grey water, or an outside gully that overflows when it rains. The cause is often wet wipes, fat, scale, silt, collapsed pipe or roots, but you cannot see that from the plughole. Whoever comes out will usually start with rods or a jetter, then suggest a CCTV drain survey if the same stretch keeps blocking.

If you need drain unblocking today, say so on the form and say whether waste is coming back into the house. That is the difference between an emergency callout and a booked visit.

Drain jetting

Drain jetting sends high-pressure water down the pipe to shift what rods will not move: blockages of fat and wet wipes, silt, scale and many root masses. It is the usual next step when a plunger or a cheap unblocker has failed, and it is often how drain unblocking is actually done on the underground run rather than at the sink trap. Jetting is also used as maintenance on catering sites and on older clay runs that silt up. It is not a repair. If the pipe is cracked or collapsed, jetting may clear the water for a while and then the same spot will fail again. That is when a CCTV drain survey earns its keep.

CCTV drain surveys

A CCTV drain survey puts a camera through the pipe and gives you a written report of what it found: joins, scale, roots, cracks, dips and collapses. House buyers, lenders and solicitors ask for this because a drain problem is expensive to discover after exchange. It is also the right job when a drain has blocked more than once in the same place, or when you can smell waste but nothing is backing up yet. Ask whoever visits whether the report includes stills or video and whether they will map the run. The firm that attends produces the survey report.

Drain repairs and relining

Drain repairs cover cracked, leaking, dropped or root-damaged pipe. Relining is a common method: a resin liner is cured inside the existing pipe so the run is sealed without digging up the whole garden. Not every fault can be lined. A collapsed section, a badly displaced joint or a pipe that has gone out of line may still need excavation. A CCTV drain survey is how a firm decides which of those you have. Quotes for drain repairs vary with access, depth and how much of the run is affected, which is why comparing more than one price is useful before anyone breaks ground.

Drain cleaning

Drain cleaning and descaling take fat, scale, silt and residue out of a pipe before they become a blockage. It is the planned version of drain unblocking: catering kitchens, older properties with cast iron or clay, and houses that have already had one nasty blockage often book it as maintenance. Cleaning will not fix a broken pipe. If smells return quickly after a clean, that is a reason to add a CCTV drain survey rather than booking another flush.

Septic tanks

Septic tanks, treatment plants and cesspits serve properties that are not on the main sewer. Firms in your area quote for emptying, inspections, soakaway problems and repairs to the tank or the pipework around it. Signs you need someone include a tank that fills too fast, soggy ground around the soakaway, smells outside, or waste backing up toward the house. Emptying is not the same job as a repair. If you already know you need a tanker, say that on the form. If you only know it smells or it is backing up, say that instead and let whoever visits tell you whether it is a full tank, a blockage, or a failed soakaway.

Other jobs people ask us to pass on include excavation when a pipe has collapsed and cannot be repaired from inside. You do not need a separate form for that. Describe what is happening and the firms covering your postcode will say whether they handle it.

What actually blocks drains, by the numbers

The water companies publish what they pull out of their sewers, and it is the same thing almost everywhere.

Thames Water clears around 75,000 blockages a year and removes 3.8 billion wet wipes, at a cost of about £18 million. It names wipes as its number one cause
Yorkshire Water dealt with 25,976 blockages in 2022, and 11,946 of them, roughly 46%, were caused by wet wipes
United Utilities deals with 22,000 blockages a year across the North West, and attends 7,000 incidents of sewer flooding to homes and gardens
Scottish Water clears around 35,000 blockages a year at about £10 million, largely from wipes
Severn Trent removes around two and a half tonnes of wet wipes and 14 million litres of fat, oil and grease every year

The industry advice is the same everywhere. Only flush the three Ps: pee, poo and paper. Fat and cooking oil go in the bin, not the sink.

How it works

Three steps. Nothing on the form commits you to booking anyone.

Tell us the problem. Postcode, what the drain is doing, your name and a phone number. The details box is optional and it helps. Whoever picks it up can tell a lot from whether it is inside or outside, how long it has been going on, and whether you need drain unblocking, a CCTV drain survey, drain repairs or a septic tank looking at.
It goes to firms covering your area. Companies who work your postcode. They contact you directly and they set the price.
You compare and choose. Take the quote you want. Take none of them if you would rather ring someone yourself. Check insurance, reviews and what is included before anyone starts.

Why use Draind instead of calling round yourself

You can always search for a drainage firm and ring them one by one. Plenty of people do. Draind is for when you would rather describe the job once and let firms that cover your postcode come back to you.

What using Draind does

You write the problem once: blocked drains, drain unblocking, a CCTV drain survey, drain repairs, drain cleaning or septic tanks.
The enquiry is passed to drainage companies covering your postcode, rather than a generic national desk.
You can compare more than one quote before you decide, including whether someone can come today or needs to book you in.
It costs you nothing to use, and you can still ignore every reply and ring someone yourself.

If sewage is already coming back into the house and speed matters more than comparing prices, fill the form in and start calling as well. Getting quotes should never slow down an emergency.

Common questions

Does it cost anything to get quotes?

No. Using the site and sending the form is free. You are not committed to booking anyone. If you accept a quote, you pay the company that carries out the work, at the price they quoted you.

How quickly will someone contact me?

Companies ring you directly as soon as they pick the enquiry up, so it depends on how busy they are that day. If it is an emergency and nobody has called within the hour, start ringing round the drainage firms near you rather than waiting on the form.

I do not know if I need drain unblocking, a CCTV drain survey or a repair. Can I still use the form?

Yes. Choose the closest description, or say you are not sure. Most blocked drains start as an unblocking visit. A CCTV drain survey is more likely if a solicitor has asked for one, or the same pipe keeps blocking. Drain repairs come after someone has seen the pipe. Whoever visits should tell you what they have actually found before you agree a repair price.

Who is responsible for my drain?

The pipe that serves only your house, inside your own boundary, is yours. Once it joins a run shared with a neighbour or crosses the boundary, it has almost certainly belonged to the water company since 2011. Ring them before you pay anybody, especially if waste is surfacing in the road or at a public manhole. On their sewer you should not be paying privately at all.

Do you cover septic tanks as well as blocked drains?

Yes. Use the form and choose septic tank, or describe emptying, smells, a soggy soakaway or waste backing up from the tank. We pass that to firms that handle septic tanks in your area.

Do you cover the whole of the UK?

The site is for the whole of the UK. Put your postcode in and the enquiry goes to companies who work that area. Town and city pages are live for London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, Sheffield and Bristol, with more being added. They are listed on the locations page. Availability still depends on whether a firm that covers your postcode picks up the job.

What happens to my details?

We store the enquiry and pass it to drainage companies covering your postcode so they can quote. There is a privacy policy that explains this in full. To get a copy of what we hold, correct it, or have it deleted, email info@draind.co.uk.

Get free quotes from local drainage companies

Blocked drains, drain unblocking, CCTV drain surveys, drain repairs and septic tanks. Tell us the postcode and the problem. Companies covering your area come back to you.